


College Daze

by bjfic_archivist



Category: Queer as Folk (US)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-08-20
Updated: 2003-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-27 13:00:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 57,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12081546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bjfic_archivist/pseuds/bjfic_archivist
Summary: Brian and Justin are College Students falling in love.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Note from IrishCaelan, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Brian/Justin Fanfiction Archive](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Brian_Justin_Fanfiction_Archive). To preserve the archive, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in September 2017. I posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [The Brian/Justin Fanfiction Archive collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/bjfic/profile).

"I can't believe you're dragging me to this ridiculous party!" Justin groaned. "How do you even know anyone going to a party at the Zeta house?" 

"Fysh is in one of my art classes." Lindsay explained, trying to make her hair perfect. She didn't tell Justin that she only wanted to go to the party because Fysh's friend Daphne was going to be there.

"Fish? As in goldfish?" Justin asked, making a face.

"With a y." Lindsay said shooting Justin a look. Justin chuckled, suddenly realizing exactly why Lindsay wanted to go to the frat party.

"So, what's her name?" He asked, looking over her shoulder in the mirror.

"What are you talking about, Justin Taylor?" Lindsay asked, trying her best to sound shocked. "Isn't college the time when you're supposed to go out and party all the time before it's time to really grow up and settle down."

"You're so full of shit, Linds." Justin chuckled. "Tell me it's not another one like that Bambi chick, the one who looked like a stripper."

"Her name is Daphne." Lindsay blushed. "She's got the curliest hair and the biggest brown eyes." She playfully fanned herself.

"You're such a teeny bopper!" Justin shook his head. "So, if you're gunna be fawning over your curly head girl all night, why am I even coming to the party? Probably won't even be any other gay guys there." He started to go into pout mode.

"No. Anthony is going too. Brian Kinney will be there too, Anthony's latest quest." Lindsay smiled. 

"Again, what am I gunna do? Party with the breeders?" Justin was thinking how much he'd rather go over to his boyfriend Jonny's place and spend a nice romantic night in.

"Stop being so anti-social. You've been in college for almost a year and the only people you spend any time with are me, Anthony, and Jonny." Lindsay shook out her hair because she was convinced that shaking it made it perfectly fluffy.

"Fine." Justin grumbled. "Let's go and get this over with."

***

"Woo!" Daphne let out a whistle as Brian walked into her room dressed in a pair of tight fitting black pants and a tight white t-shirt from FCUK. "Well, don't you just scream 'take me to your room and use me for your toy'!"

"Thanks, Daph, that's exactly what I was going for." Brian smiled in his signature cocky way and did a little twirl to show how perfectly the pants hugged his ass.

"Wearing those pants, no one is going to believe you're a top." Daphne chuckled and checked herself out in the mirror.

"Wearing that hideous dress, no one will believe you're my fag hag. Change." Brian hated when Daphne wore girly, flowery dresses.

"Gee, thanks, Bri." Daphne rolled her eyes. She had stopped being insulted by Brian's fashion advice back when they were in high school together. "You just don't want me to look hot and find a guy who actually likes pussy to replace you."

"Yeah, right." Brian flopped himself down on her bed to wait for her to get ready. "I think you need to find some cock so I can be alone to find some for myself."

"You're such a slut." Daphne laughed and grabbed a black dress that she was sure Brian would approve of out of her closet.

"I need to get enough for the both of us." Brian teased, pulling on one of her curls. She pulled away and slapped at his hand. "I can't believe we're going to a frat party." He shook his head. "I'll probably get gay bashed and you'll get date raped."

"Gee, something to look forward to." She groaned and she changed into the black dress. "When did you get so cynical?"

"Last time I went to Fysh's frat they had the beer bong all ready to go for me." Brian rolled his eyes. He tried to hard to be mature and stay away from the cheesy party animal antics of most of the guys on campus." On the upside, I turned a straight little frat boy into my bitch that night."

"Brian! Shut up! I'm so sick of hearing about your over active sex life." She pulled her hair out of the neck of her dress and made sure she looked perfect in the mirror.

"No, you're not!" Brian laughed. "You like my stories so much that you wish you had a cock so you could try out some of the stuff I've described to you."

"Let's just go so that maybe I can find some hot guy to get my sexual frustrations out with." Daphne shook her head and chuckled. "Don't steal another one away from me, okay?"

***

Justin looked around at all the beefed up frat boys chugging their beers and grabbing the pretty girls ass's and groaned. He and Lindsay were near the front door because she wanted to see Daphne as soon as she got there. When Anthony arrived, he gave Brian a quick kiss on the cheek and grabbed Lindsay up in a tight hug. "Hey." He said with a big smile. 

"Hey, Ant." Justin smiled. "Can you stay here while Lindsay waits for her curly haired dream girl? I wanna go outside and make a call." 

"Sure, J." Anthony said with a smile, draping his arm around Lindsay's neck. "So, who's the new dream girl?" He asked playfully.

"Daphne Chanders." Lindsay blushed. 

"Kinney's friend." Anthony said with a smile. He had every intention of going home with the tall attractive guy that night. "Well, good luck 'cause they just walked in." He nodded towards the door and Lindsay nearly fell over when she saw Daphne in the tight black dress.

"Hey, Daphne!" She called. Daphne smiled as she walked over to the blond. Brian followed obligingly, noticing the tall good-looking guy standing with the blond.

"Hi Linds." Daphne said with a smile. "This is my friend, Brian Kinney."

"Nice to meet you." Lindsay said extending her hand but never taking her eyes off Daphne. Brian had to stifle a chuckle when he realized that the innocent looking little blond had a crush on his best friend. 

"You too." He said. "And this is?" He looked over at Anthony and smiled charmingly. 

"Oh, this is Anthony Malone." Lindsay quickly introduced Anthony and blushed.

"Hey, Linds, wanna come with me to fix my hair?" Daphne asked, knowing that Brian would want to be alone with Anthony.

"Sure." Lindsay followed Daphne to the upstairs washroom eagerly. 

Once the two girls were gone, Brian moved in a little closer to Anthony. He could tell by the way the other guy was undressing him with his eyes that he wasn't going to have any problem getting laid that night.

"So... Did the little blond drag you here tonight?" Brian asked, moving his face closer to Anthony's.

"Nah. She dragged another little blond here, my roommate Justin. I came because there was gunna be a guy here that I was anxious to fuck." Anthony was in full predator mode and wasn't going to leave the party until he had Kinney coming with him.

"Yah?" Brian raised an eyebrow, kept his face neutral. "Is he here yet?"

Anthony nodded. "Walked in about five minutes ago."

Suddenly, Justin walked up to the two grabbing Anthony's arm and looking troubled. "Anthony, I need to talk to you." He said hurriedly. 

"I'm a little busy, J." Anthony said without taking his eyes off Brian.

"Please." Justin begged and his roommate could tell that something must really be wrong. The blond was looking up at him with wide eyes. Anthony turned to look back at Brian.

"Excuse me for a few minutes?" He asked.

"Of course." Brian said. "Later." He took one last look at the blond who had interrupted their game and walked off in search of a beer.

"Ok, J, this had better be good. Another five minutes and me and that guy would have been heading back to the apartment." Anthony was a little annoyed, but more concerned about Justin than anything. 

"I called Jonny's, just to check in and tell him that I'd probably be home late because Lindsay was on the prowl and stuff. Well, some other guy answered the phone. When I asked for Jonny I heard him call him baby." Justin was bit upset.

"Oh, J..." Anthony wrapped his arms around the smaller man and gave him a tight hug. They walked outside and sat there talking about the probability of Justin's boyfriend of a year cheating on him for a good while. Justin, who had grabbed a bottle of booze off the table on the way out was getting a nice buzz on as he drank swigs of the bottle quickly.

"My boyfriend doesn't love me!" Justin wailed once he was really feeling the effects of the alcohol. Anthony tried not to chuckle at his drunken friend.

"Listen, I'm going to go find Linds so she can drive you home. She can always come back to the party." Anthony said, standing. "Wait for me here, okay?" Justin simply nodded and looked into the bottle he had been drinking from as Anthony stepped back into the house. 

When Justin heard the door open a few minutes later, he assumed that it was Anthony and began talking without looking up. "Can you believe that he's such an asshole? If he wanted to keep tricking he should have just told me instead of trying to dazzle me with bullshit promises of monogamy." 

"I agree." Brian said with a slight chuckle, realizing that the kid thought he was talking to someone else. He sat down next to the blond and lit up a cigarette.

"Oh..." Justin felt really stupid when he looked up and saw the gorgeous guy sitting next to him with a slightly amused look on his face. "Shit. I thought you were someone else."

"No worries, Sunshine. My lips are sealed." Brian was a little taken aback when he saw the beautiful blue eyes the boy had. Inside, he had been too focused on Anthony and never really noticed his young looking roommate.

"I'm Justin." Justin tried to make it seem like he was sober as he stuck out his hand. Brian laughed as Justin wobbled and took the boy's hand in his own. Deciding that he didn't want to let go quite yet, he continued to hold his hand.

"Brian Kinney."

"Oh! The one Anthony wants." Justin said to himself. When he realized that he said the words aloud, he blushed. "Sorry."

"Again, no worries, Sunshine." Brian smiled, hoping it would make his new friend smile. "You're looking a little drunk. Get dumped?"

"I called my boyfriend's apartment and some guy answered and called Jonny baby." Justin pouted. "There goes another relationship down the tubes."

"You're a monogamy guy?" Brian tried to keep the sneer from his face.

"I'm an honesty guy. When we first got together, he told me that he only wanted me and all that other romantic propaganda. If he would have been honest, I wouldn't be so upset." Justin looked down into the bottle. 

"Then he's not the right guy for you." Brian was trying really hard not to take advantage of the kid when he was so upset about his son-of-a-bitch boyfriend, but was finding it difficult. There was something about the blond that attracted him. "Sometimes you gotta fuck a few frogs..."

"Don't you mean kiss?" Justin asked with a bit of a grin on his face.

"That too." Brian grinned. "Listen, do you need a ride home? You look a little hammered and I'm ready to get out of here anyways."

"Yah, that would be--" He was interrupted by Lindsay coming out of the house in a huff.

"Justin, let's get out of here." She said quickly. It looked like she was going to say more, but then she noticed Brian sitting there and stopped herself. "This party is shit."

Justin stood and smiled at Brian, finally taking his hand back. "It was nice meeting you, Brian. See you around?"

"Byebye, Sunshine." Brian said with a wink before Lindsay grabbed Justin's hand and dragged him back away. "I'll definitely see you around." He promised himself, unable to keep himself from getting a little excited wondering when he was going to see the blond again.

***

"He's cheating!" Justin moaned.

"She's straight!" Lindsay moaned in the exact same tone as Justin. It was as though they were having two completely different conversations, neither was really listening to a word the other was saying. "That party sucked."

"Not all of it." Justin said with a small smile, remembering Brian holding his hand and telling him that Jonny obviously wasn't the right guy.

"Anthony is gunna shit when he finds out you were outside trying to steal his trick while he was looking for me to take you home." Lindsay giggled despite her foul mood about Daphne being straight.

"I wasn't trying to steal his trick!" Justin defended himself. "He was shaking my hand and he just didn't let go." He remember the feeling of Brian's long fingers wrapped around his own and had to stop himself from thinking of what else those hands could do to his body so that Lindsay wouldn't catch him with a raging hard on in his pants.

"Don't get too excited. Anthony is still going to fuck him tonight." Lindsay said, desperate for her best friend not to get hung up on yet another guy who would break his heart. She hadn't really liked Jonny from the beginning but she kept it to herself because she knew that Justin was crazy about him.

"You think?" Justin looked a little troubled when he thought about the fact that there was a chance Anthony would still end up in bed with Brian.

"Come on, Ant always gets his man and he's had his eye on Brian for a couple of weeks now." Lindsay pulled the car onto Justin's street and stopped in front of his building. "Uh oh, cheating scum bag alert." She said. 

When Justin looked up he saw Jonny sitting outside his building, his hands folded in between his knees. "Shit." Justin grumbled under his breath. He really didn't want to talk to Jonny when he was so drunk.

"Want me to tell him to get lost?" Lindsay offered. 

"I can handle it." He said, taking a few deep breaths and trying to get his bearings. He leaned over and kisses Lindsay's cheek before opening the door and stepping out of the car a little wobbly. As he walked up to Jonny, not so steady on his feet, he saw a look of recognition in his boyfriend's eyes. 

"It was you who called." It wasn't a question. Jonny knew by Justin's drunken state that it was his boyfriend who called when he was in the middle of a little bedroom fun with Luke. Justin nodded. "I wish you didn't find out this way."

"Good to know." Justin knew what was coming by the way Jonny phrased his words. The guy who answered the phone wasn't some random trick, it was a new lover. "So it's over then?"

Jonny, not knowing what else to say, nodded.

"I left some stuff at your place. I'll come pick it up on the weekend and I'll leave the key." Justin said quietly. "I'll bring by any stuff that you might have left here."

"So I guess we can't be friends?" This question caused Justin to lose his composure and he swung around to look at his now ex-boyfriend.

"You've been cheating on me but you want to be my friend?" He demanded. "Fuck that! And fuck you!" With that, he stomped up the steps and into the building. Once he was safely alone inside his apartment, he let it all go and he cried and cried.


	2. Chapter 2

Justin was tying his shoe when Lindsay burst into the apartment with a big smile on her face. Justin shook his head and wondered what she could possibly be so happy about. Of course, he was just in an absolutely miserable mood because it had been three days since he and Jonny and things weren’t starting to look up like everyone told him they would.

"What are you so perky about?" He asked.

"Remember how I told you that my English teacher suggested that I get a tutor?" Lindsay hurried over and sat next to Justin with a big smile on her face.

"Yeah. You hated the idea." But he was sure that the reason she didn’t hate the idea anymore had to have something to do with a woman.

"I met my tutor today. Her name is Melanie." Lindsay started to giggle before going on to describe Melanie in the most dramatic fashion possible. "She’s tall and thin, she has this long dark hair, and she’s just so beautiful."

"Is she straight? Remember the last one was straight." Justin pulled on his other shoe and started tying the laces. He had gotten tired of sitting around the apartment being miserable so he decided he was going to go for a run.

"She was telling me that she just broke up with her girlfriend!" Lindsay nearly shrieked. "I can’t wait until our first real tutoring session. She’s so smart, Justin. She’s a law student." Lindsay was off in dreamland and it was starting to make Justin sick.

"Hey, Linds?" He decided to change the subject.

"Yeah?"

"What do you know about Brian Kinney?" Justin asked. He had been thinking about the gorgeous guy with the kind hazel eyes quite a bit over the past few days. Actually, he was thinking about Brian more than he was thinking about his newly single status.

"Why do you want to know? Do you like him?" Lindsay looked a little suspicious. From what she knew from Daphne, Brian was a bit of a slut and she didn’t want Justin to get involved with him.

"I don’t know. I only talked to him for a few minutes." Justin shrugged. He didn’t really know what was drawing him to the other guy. The only thing he knew for sure was that he wanted to know more about him.

"Daphne told me he’s a slut. With a different guy every night." Lindsay shrugged. "Kinda like Anthony, only he isn’t nice to them afterwards."

"What do you mean, he’s not nice to them?" Justin asked. 

"Apparently he kicks them out of his bed as soon as he’s finished with them. And then if they try to talk to him again after, he pretends he doesn’t know them." Lindsay didn’t know if what she was saying was the whole truth, but she really wanted to protect Justin.

"Really?? Hmmm..." Justin started taking off his shoes. He decided he didn’t want to go for a run anymore, staying in and wallowing was much more appealing.

***

"What do you know about that blond kid Justin?" Brian asked as he and Daphne sat in front of the TV before he had to get ready to meet his friend Michael for a drink at a local gay watering hole.

"Lindsay’s friend?" Brian nodded. "I don’t know much. When Linds left the party the other night, apparently it was because Justin broke up with his boyfriend. I don’t know much more. He’s in the art department, freshman, grew up in some swanky neighborhood." Daphne shrugged. "Seems like a spoiled little rich kid to me."

"I talked to him at that party..." Brian said, letting the sentence fade out. He didn’t want Daphne to know that he actually liked the kid. Apparently, however, Daphne knew him too well.

"You like him!" She started to chuckle. "Do you want him or do you want him?" She asked, trying unsuccessfully to wiggle her eyebrows.

"Fuck off." Brian grumbled. If he were being honest he would have say that he didn’t know in what way he wanted Justin, there was just something about the young man that made him want to be around him.

"You want me to find out what I can from Lindsay about him?" Daphne offered. She had been hoping that Brian would find someone for more than a one night stand for a while and she hoped that the cute young man Brian was mooning over could be the one.

"How junior high is that?" Brian asked, wanting very much to say yes. He wasn’t sure why, but he really wanted to know everything he could about the guy he met at the party.

"I’ll talk to her tomorrow." Daphne said with a smile.

"She’s a dyke, you know." Brian said matter-of-factly.

"No!" Daphne was seriously surprised.

"Don’t pretend like you didn’t notice the way she was looking at you when we walked into the party. And god, she followed you around like a puppy dog as soon as you said come." Brian chuckled. He knew that Daphne wouldn’t have a problem with the fact that Lindsay was gay, and she’d probably revel in the face that someone had a crush on her.

"No, I didn’t notice." Daphne smiled. "But I guess that explains that hurt look she got on her face when I said I was looking to get some dick that night," she chuckled. "I just thought she was really religious or something."

"God, Daph. You hang out at Woody’s and Babylon and you don’t know how to spot a dyke a mile away yet?" Brian feigned disappointment. "I may have to take away your honorary fag button and membership card."

"Asshole." Daphne chuckled.

***

Anthony glanced over at Justin as the two of them sat watching some reality TV show where some guy dates 25 women and then proposes to one of them in the end. "I think they need to make a show where they put 25 fags in a house and see what happens." Anthony quipped.

"They certainly wouldn’t be able to air it on ABC." Justin laughed. "Maybe Showtime." He reached over and took a sip of his coke.

Anthony laughed. "I wouldn’t mind being one of those 25 guys... long as the rest of ‘em were hot." Justin laughed along with him.

"So, how’d it go with that Brian guy the other night?" He asked, trying to sound casual.

"He left before I could talk to him again. Doesn’t matter though, I found and even hotter guy and we went back to his place." Anthony grinned. "Besides, I heard Kinney is a top too, and that just wouldn’t work." 

"Oh." Justin tried to bite back the wide smile that was threatening to break out on his face. Anthony noticed and smiled.

"Linds told me she found you and Kinney holding hands outside." He looked at Justin’s reaction out of the corner of his eye. He laughed when his roommate looked scared. "Don’t worry, Justin. If you want him, you should go for it." 

"Really?" Justin was surprised that Anthony was giving up a trick to Justin.

"God, Justin, you need to live a little. You’re 19 and you’ve been with what, 2 guys in your life? You need to experience what’s out there. Fuck a few frogs before you go in search of your prince." Justin laughed when Anthony said the exact same thing Brian had said. 

"Why didn’t you and I ever fuck?" Justin asked. 

"What??!!" Anthony laughed. "If you hadn’t been with that idiot Chris Hobbes when I met you, I probably would have tried. But now, man, we make really good friends and I don’t want to fuck that up. Besides, I don’t do boyfriends the way you do."

"I know. Your longest relationship is, what, 2 days? That weekend when you were stuck at your grandparents cabin and you seduced the guy next door?" 

"Yep, I think that’s probably the longest." Anthony looked down at his watch. "I’m bored staying in. I’m taking you to Woody’s."

"Woody’s?" Justin gulped. He hadn’t been there since he and Chris had ventured out to Liberty Avenue once when they were seventeen.

"Come on, boy, live a little." Anthony grabbed Justin’s hand and pulled him off the couch. "If I don’t take you away from these horrible straight reality shows, it’ll be my fault when you turn into a breeder."

Justin let himself be dragged into Anthony’s room where he was poked, prodded, and dressed in a skin tight baby blue t-shirt and a pair of cargo pants that molded to his ass perfectly. "I’m going to make you into the best fag you can be."

"I’ve been a fag for two years. Don’t act like I’m some little boy just out of the closet." Justin slapped Anthony’s hand away as he tried to mess his hair. He had to admit that he liked the way Anthony’s clothes looked on him and was a little curious about where their night out on Liberty Avenue would take them.

***

"Hiya, Mikey." Brian said, slipping an arm around his best friend who was sitting at the bar at Woody’s. "Sorry I’m late, had to get a couple of books from the library on the way over here."

"Oh, that’s no problem." Michael looked up at Brian adoringly. "Do you want a drink?"

Brian called the bartender over and ordered his usual, a double Jim Beam. "Wanna shoot some pool?" Brian asked his friend once he had his drink in his hand, seeing that there was an open table.

"Sure, Brian." 

Brian led the way and Mikey following behind and they started a game of pool. Michael kept going on and on about his day at work. He worked in a comic book store. "This guy actually came into the store looking for an Archie comic! I told him to go down the street to the grocery store."

"Sounds thrilling." Brian teased. Suddenly, the door opened and a blond head caught Brian’s attention. He wasn’t sure how, but he knew that it had to be Justin. When he saw Anthony walk in behind him, he was certain. "I’ll be right back, Mikey. I see someone I know."

Justin and Anthony sat down at a table in the corner. "I’ll go get us some drinks, alright?" When Justin nodded, Anthony stood and walked over to the bar. 

"Hi, Sunshine." Brian said, sliding himself into the seat across from Justin.

"Brian... Hi." Justin was surprised to see Brian sitting across from him, but tried not to let it show on his face. "What are you doing here?"

"Playing pool with my friend Mikey. Do you and Anthony want to join us?" Amusement played in Brian’s eyes. 

"Uhm... sure." Justin said with a smile. Moments later, Anthony returned with the drinks. "Ant, you remember Brian, right? He invited us to play pool with him and his friend."

"Well, then, let’s get over there." 

Both Anthony and Justin knew exactly who Brian’s friend was, the short skinny guy who had been watching Brian the entire time he was away from him. Justin smiled a little when he felt Brian’s hand on the small of his back, leading him along. 

"Mikey, this is Anthony and Justin. Guys, this is my friend Michael." Brian introduced as he grabbed his cue and grabbed one for Justin. He wanted to make sure that Anthony knew that his interest was in Justin, and Justin alone. Even though Brian had wanted Anthony badly before, he now paled in comparison to the blond at his side.

"Hi." Michael said with a big goofy grin. He reached out to shake each of their hands. Anthony decided that the geeky little guy with Brian had to be kept busy so that Justin could test out his seduction skills on Brian.

"Nice to meet you." He said, bringing Michael’s hand to his lips and gently sucking one finger into his mouth.

Brian chuckled when he saw this. Apparently, he didn’t have to worry about fending Anthony off for the evening, and with both him and Michael preoccupied, Brian would have Justin all to himself. 

"Teams?" Justin suggested. 

"How about me and you versus Michael and Ant?" Brian suggested, raising an eyebrow as if to challenge Justin to play with him.

"Sounds good." Justin surprised himself. Being that he was so inexperienced with guys, having only had two boyfriends in all of his 19 years, he was usually really shy. However, something was different with Brian. Hell, everything was different with Brian.

"You break." Brian said to Justin. Anthony and Michael were in their own little world. Michael was mooning over the attention Anthony was giving him-- and Ant was laying it on thick. Justin bent over to shoot and then thought of something. 

"Brian? I haven’t played pool in forever. Do you think you could help me?" He tried to raise an eyebrow the same way Brian had. Brian stifled a laugh, but walked over and stood behind Justin.

"You hold the cue like this." Brian slipped his arms around Justin from behind and showed him how to hold the cue. "And you shoot it like this." As he was helping Justin shoot, he pressed himself close to Justin and felt the blond push back against him.

"Thanks." Justin said, breathlessly. Brian stood and took a long gulp of his beer, trying to calm the hard on that was beginning to grow in his pants. 

Brian chuckled when he looked up at Anthony and Michael. They were grinding together next to the pool table and it looked like both of them were so lost in what they were doing that they wouldn’t be playing pool any time soon. "Looks like it’s just me and you." He said to Justin. 

"I get you all to myself," Justin flirted. "Why don’t we raise the stakes?"

Brian raised an eyebrow at Justin’s challenge. "Wouldn’t be fair. You don’t even know how to hold a cue stick."

"Still bet I could beat you." Justin replied playfully. He figured he’d plan on losing anyway, but make the stakes so that he was a winner even after losing at pool.

"You’re on." Brian smiled. "So, what are the stakes?"

"If I win, you give me a ride home." Justin smiled slyly. Brian couldn’t believe that all the kid wanted was a ride home.

"And if I win?" 

"You can give me a ride back to your place." Brian could see the mischief in Justin’s eyes as he said the words and he knew it was a bet that he couldn’t turn down.

"Deal." He grinned. "I guess it’s my turn now then." He took his first shot and sunk two balls at once. 

"Uh oh, I think I’m in trouble." Justin feigned being scared to lose. As Brian was about to make his next shot, he came up behind him and caressed his thigh. When Brian missed his shot entirely, Justin gasped. "Oops! Was that my fault?"

"You’re a little vixen, aren’t you?" Brian asked with a chuckle.

Twenty minutes, and several caresses and whispers later, the game was over. "Looks like you beat me." Justin pretended to pout, even though he was thrilled at the thought of going home with Brian. 

"Wanna back out of our deal?" Brian asked. Justin grinned and pressed his hand to Brian’s chest. Brian, in turn, took Justin’s hand in his own and held it there.

"I’m a man of my word." Justin smiled. "You ready to take me home?"

"Hell yes." Brian grasped Justin’s hand a little tighter and with a quick "We’re leaving!" tossed over his shoulder, they left the bar.

***

"Is Daphne home?" Justin asked as Brian led him into his apartment. He was amazed at cool their apartment was for young students. It seemed like a mishmash of different design styles, but it seemed to work. 

"She’ll be studying in the library until the wee hours." Brian told him as he threw his keys down on the kitchen table and quickly checked the answering machine. 

"What is she taking?" Justin knew that he was probably talking too much considering that there was no question as to the reason they ended up at Brian’s place.

"She’s a History major." Brian shrugged. "I don’t know what she plans to do with a History degree, but..." he shrugged and walked to the fridge. "Do you want anything?"

"Uhm, no, I’m okay." Justin said as he walked over to the couch and sat down. When Brian returned to the room with a can of 7Up in his hand, he gave Justin a weird look.

"Do you want to stay out here?" He asked.

"Uhm... no... ok..." Justin wasn’t sure how to answer so he looked away. He felt Brian’s hand on his shoulder and he looked up. Brian was looking down at him with a smile on his face.

"Come in my room." He said quietly. Justin stood and slipped his hand into Brian’s, following him into the bedroom and closing the door.


	3. Chapter 3

Brian looked at the blond lying next to him, fast asleep, and smiled. His night with Justin had been amazing and he couldn't help but smile as he remembered. Being careful not to wake his young lover, Brian climbed out of bed and went into the kitchen in search of some coffee.

"Well, hello, stud." Daphne said with a smile looking up at him. She was sitting at the table looking through a textbook and sipping her morning java. "You guys didn't get to sleep until like six in the morning, did you?"

"How'd you know?"

"Neither did I. The walls in this place are thin, you know? Whoever you had in there was moaning like a bitch in heat." She chuckled as she stood to pour her roommate some coffee. Instead of waiting for her to finish pouring his, Brian grabbed her cup and took a big gulp. 

Daphne chuckled and brought the pot to the table. "Normally I'd freak if you did that, but you worked yourself hard last night," she laughed again, "and you probably need it more that I do."

"You're such a good little roommate, Daph." Brian smiled as she sat back down across from him. 

"So, who was last night's victim?" She asked with a grin. This was how it always happened. Over coffee, she and Brian would sit down and he would regale her with stories about what he and his trick from the night before had done.

"Justin Taylor." Brian said with a small smile. When he saw Daphne's shocked reaction, he laughed a little. "Me and Mikey ran into him at Woody's."

"Did Mikey have a fit when you left with Justin?" Daphne asked. She wasn't too fond of Brian's so-called best friend. She thought he was a little too obsessed with his friend to be genuine. Michael tended to be jealous and whiney and Daphne had no respect for that.

"He was a little preoccupied." Brian chuckled, remembering Anthony and Mikey grinding against each other and barely looking up when he and Justin left.

"Preoccupied with what?" 

"Anthony. Justin was there with him and Anthony seduced Mikey so that he was too busy being dazzled to notice me and Justin." Brian took another big gulp of coffee, trying to motivate himself to get dressed and get ready for work. Saturday mornings he worked at a men's clothing store. 

"So, how'd you get sweet little Justin into bed?" Daphne asked. She looked confused when Brian all out laughed.

"Actually, it was more like he got me into bed. We bet on pool. If he won, I drove him home. If I won, I drove him back here. I think he knew I would win, he sucked." Brian grinned. "I considered throwing the game just to find out if he would try to find another way to get me to bring him here."

"But wanting him won out?" Daphne asked with a smile. She saw something different in Brian when he talked about Justin. He wasn't just some nameless trick like all of the other guys he brought home.

"Apparently." Brian shrugged. 

"You really like him, don't you?" 

"What are you talking about?" Brian played dumb. "Just because I brought him home doesn't mean that I like him. I bring home guys all the time."

"But it doesn't matter to you either way whether they end up coming home with you or whether you move on to some other trick. And you never call them by name the next day." Daphne always liked to challenge Brian. He had all sorts of rules about relationships that not many twenty-two year olds were cynical enough to have.

"So what if I like him. Doesn't change anything." Brian shrugged. He hated that Daphne knew him as well as she did.

"I know you too well to buy this shit you're feeding me. I know you like the kid and you just don't want to tell me because it'll ruin your precious image. But I don't want you to get hurt so I feel inclined to remind you that Justin just broke up with his boyfriend and there's a really good chance that you're just a trick to him." Daphne decided that it was better to remind him about where Justin was instead of letting him get himself in too deep.

"No need to worry about me." He grinned. "It's not like I'm going to turn into some monogamous asshole who likes to pretend that he's in love to make it okay to have sex. Sure, maybe I do like Justin but you don't have to worry about me falling in love with the kid." Brian said the word love with such distaste that it made his roommate wince.

"I can't believe you don't believe in love." Daphne shook her head. They'd had the exact same conversation quite a few times. "I mean, how can you be so jaded at your age?"

"Just lucky, I guess." Brian grinned and stood. "If you'll excuse me, I have to go wake sleeping beauty and send him on his merry way so I can go to work."

"He's still here?" Daphne was shocked. Brian wasn't exactly known to let tricks sleep over. He usually finished with them and sent them on their merry way as soon as they were done.

"I wore the poor boy out." Brian winked and slipped into his bedroom, closing the door behind him. Justin was still fast asleep. Crawling back into bed, Brian considered what Daphne had reminded him of. It was true that Justin was still getting over the asshole who lied and cheating on him. It made him feel pretty worthless to think that he could be just a trick in Justin's eyes. 

When Justin started to rouse, Brian decided that he was going to play it cool with the young man and not put himself out there to get shit on. "Good morning, Sunshine." He said with a grin when Justin turned over and looked at him.

"I forgot where I was for a second." Justin said, offering him a sleepy smile. "And then I felt an ache in my ass and I remembered how awesome last night was."

"Worth the ache?" Brian asked, raising an eyebrow amusedly.

"Hell yes." Justin sat up and looked around for his underwear, holding the comforter against his stomach. When he located them, he slid them on under the covers before standing up to look for the rest of his clothes.

"I gotta start getting ready for work. Can you find your way out?" Brian asked, trying his hardest to sound disinterested.

"Yeah, I think I can handle it." Justin said, a little disappointed that Brian was basically kicking him out. He thought about what Lindsay told him about Brian, how he kicked tricks out of his bed and then forgot they exsisted.

"Later." Brian said over his shoulder as he grabbed a towel and headed out of the room. Justin finished dressing hurriedly, feeling more than a little annoyed. He said a quick hello to Daphne before he slipped out of the apartment and called a cab from his cell phone.

***

"Can you believe she didn't want to sleep with me!" Lindsay raged as she and Justin made their way to the Liberty Diner for lunch. "She said it was too soon."

"She's being respectful?" Justin shrugged. He was too preoccupied with feeling like he got dumped by yet another guy to really listen to Lindsay's lesbo sex problems. "I can't believe you're angry because she doesn't want to just fuck you." 

"Justin Taylor! I wouldn't sleep with someone who I thought only wanted to fuck me! I know she isn't like that. She was with her ex girlfriend, Leda, for like 3 years. I just don't think she finds me attractive." Lindsay was pouting.

"I slept with Brian Kinney last night and then he basically kicked me out of his bed without so much as an ‘It was great, we should do this again sometime.'" Justin raged, sick of hearing about Lindsay's women problems all the time.

"Oh, Justin! Are you okay?" Lindsay went into mothering mode. "I told you that he was no good! I wish you would have listened to me!"

"Well, apparently you were right." Justin groaned. He and Lindsay then stepped into the diner and found a booth near the door. "I don't want to talk about it though. Can we talk about something neutral like school?"

"Sure." Lindsay said as she slipped her coat off and sat down. "I have to tell you about my film professor. He's young, but he's such a geek." Lindsay giggled. Justin laughed as well as the redheaded waitress walked up.

"How can I help you two?" She said with a big smile, taking out a fuzzy pen and a notepad from her apron.

"I'll have a tossed salad and a bowl of soup, please." Lindsay said sweetly.

"Alright, darlin'. And what about you, Sunshine?" She asked, looking at Justin. He paused for a minute as she called him the nickname that Brian had given him.

"Uhhh... I'll have a cheeseburger and french fries." Justin said offering her a smile. He was a little shaken by her calling him "Sunshine", but he tried to hide it.

***

"I think I'm in love." Michael gushed as they were walking towards the diner after Brian finished his shift at the store. 

"With who?" Brian asked absentmindedly. He had been thinking about his night with Justin all day. He wasn't sure why, he had convinced himself that Justin was just like any other trick and that he would forget him completely by the next day.

"Anthony..." Michael replied as though he were in his own little world. Hearing this, Brian tried to put all thoughts of Justin away and instead focused on the fact that Michael was setting himself up for a big fall. He felt like he and Anthony were one and the same. Even though Anthony was still a freshman, he had already earned himself quite a reputation with the gay community on campus as being a player.

"Michael, I don't know if that's such a good idea." Brian warned. "Anthony isn't the type of guy who does the relationship thing."

"Oh, what do you know!" Michael snapped, annoyed at Brian for interrupting him while he was in fantasyland. "You were too busy with Justin to even notice me and Anthony. I think he really likes me." 

Brian decided that it would be a better idea to back off than to push. At least he could say that he warned his friend. "If you say so." He decided to change the subject. "Is your mother working today?"

Michael nodded. "Mom works every Saturday. It's their busiest day." 

As the pair of friends walked into the diner, Brian noticed Justin sitting in the booth by the door almost immediately. He wasn't sure what he should do. He didn't want to ignore him completely, but he didn't want to push anything. Unfortunately, he had no choice. As soon as Michael recognized Justin as being Anthony's friend, he invited himself to sit down at their table. 

"Hi, Justin. I'm Michael. Do you remember me from last night?" Michael was like a puppy dog and Michael was dreading the day that Anthony broke his friend's heart.

"Yeah." Justin nodded, never taking his eyes off Brian. "Nice to see you again. This is my friend Lindsay." 

Brian realized that he wasn't going to get Michael away from the booth, so he took a seat next to Lindsay, who shot him a dirty look. He was a little surprised and wondered exactly what Justin had told his normally cheerful little lesbian friend. 

"Hi, Lindsay. I'm Michael. I'm a friend of Anthony's." Michael made it sound like he and Anthony had known each other forever. Lindsay raised an eyebrow.

"Nice to meet you." Lindsay said with a smile. She wasn't sure what to think of Michael, but decided that it was better to be polite. 

"I'm Brian." 

"I know who you are." Lindsay replied sharply. 

Justin lowered his head and looked at the table. He couldn't believe that he was in such a ridiculous situation. He could feel Brian's eyes on him but decided that it would be better if he didn't look up. He was wondering whether Brian would have even said hello to him if Michael hadn't made himself at home in their booth.

"So, how's Anthony?" Michael asked. "Seems like I haven't seen him in forever."

"I don't know. I haven't talked to him since last night at Woody's." Brian lifted his head and looked at Michael. "He was still asleep when I left this morning."

"Oh. I was thinking of calling him and seeing what he was doing tonight. Seeing if he maybe wanted to get together." Michael gushed. 

"We're going to Dyke night at Babylon. I'm making Anthony and Justin go with me." Lindsay explained with a big smile. She hadn't mentioned it to Justin yet, but by the look on her face he knew that she wanted to go because Melanie was going to be there. 

"I've never been to Dyke night." Michael said with a smile. "Maybe we'll have to go, huh Brian?"

"Maybe. I don't know where I'll be later." Brian shrugged, trying to keep a cool exterior. In reality he was feeling anything but cool. He'd spent all morning convincing himself that his night with Justin meant nothing, but after seeing the blond again all that went down the drain.

"Hello, boys and girl." A tall, skinny waiter with a think southern accent said as he arrived with a tray containing Lindsay and Justin's food. "Who had the salad and soup?"

"That's me." Lindsay said sweetly, glad to have the tension at the table broken by the waiter. He placed her food in front of her and smiled at the other three guys. 

"And who had the burger and fries?" 

"Me." Justin replied quietly. 

"Well, aren't you just as cute as a button." The waiter flirted as he put Justin's food in front of him. "I'm Emmett, and you are absolutely adorable."

Justin blushed and smiled in return. Brian felt his blood boil and got angry at himself for getting jealous. He also felt a little angry at the waiter for so openly flirting with Justin. 

"I'm Justin."

"Well, sweetie pie, you should come here more often. We need more cutie's like you in here to brighten up my day." Emmett winked as he walked away with a flourish.

***

"What a jerk." Lindsay fumed as she and Justin walked down Liberty Avenue after leaving the diner. Throughout lunch, Brian had barely acknowledged her friend and she was madder than hell.

"Doesn't matter. I should have known better." Justin shrugged, shoulders slumped. He felt stupid for expecting that Brian maybe wanted more than just a fuck.

"No!" Lindsay exclaimed. "You don't do that to someone you fucked like 12 hours ago. If he didn't want to see you again he could have been at least decent anyway." 

"Whatever."

"Well, don't you worry. We're going to find you a new guy at Babylon tonight. Even though it's Dyke Night, I'm sure there'll still be some hot guys there... You're like every gay boys fantasy, I'm sure there will be a lot of guys there who want you." Lindsay was always the optimistic one when it came to her friends happiness, Justin just wished she could be that optimistic about her own love life. 

"Maybe I should just be alone for a while. Getting dumped twice in one week isn't exactly making me feel like dating right now." Justin tried to smile a little as Lindsay threw her arm around him and started trying to decide what she was going to wear that night.


	4. Chapter 4

"Stop sulking." Anthony said as he playfully poked Justin in the ribs. He had been sitting on the couch wallowing ever since coming home from the diner. "Even though the dykes are invading Babylon tonight, we're still going to have a great time."

"Has Michael called yet?" Justin asked looking a little sour.

"Couple hours ago." Anthony confirmed with a nod. "I wouldn't normally be hanging out with last night's trick again, but little Mikey has this fantastic hero worship thing going on." He had a big grin on his face. "I love being worshiped like the god I am!"

"You're gonna break the poor guys heart." Justin warned.

"Wah wah wah... His best friend is Brian Kinney, he should understand the game by now." Anthony shrugged it off and Justin shuddered inwardly.

"You're my best friend and I don't understand the game at all." Justin reminded him. 

"Sure you do. You don't agree with it and until last night you didn't play it, but you sure as hell understand it" Anthony was right of course. Justin wished that he didn't understand it so that he wouldn't feel so stupid for letting himself get hurt by Brian.

"I wasn't the one playing the game last night," he grumbled, "Brian was."

"Honey, I may have been a little preoccupied with little Mikey last night, but I'm not blind and deaf. I heard the little wager you made with Kinney while you were playing pool." Anthony wagged his finger at Justin. "You may look like you're about twelve, but I sure as hell know you're not that innocent."

"Why don't you go away so I can feel sorry for myself in peace?" Justin was in no mood to be reminded of his own stupidity at thinking that the notorious Brian Kinney was in fact interested in more that a fuck.

***

"Are you two ready to go yet?" Lindsay asked as she breezed into Justin and Anthony's apartment. She was dressed in an exceptionally low cut tank top, a mini skirt, and knee high leather boots. Had Justin not been in such a bad mood, he would have laughed at the lengths his friend was taking to get her tutor into bed.

"Well, well, well, Miss Peterson, don't you just look super whoralicious." Anthony said with a grin. He was also dressed to impress in a tight black wife beater and a pair of jeans that molded to his ass perfectly. "You think that skimpy little outfit will get your tutor into the sack?"

"I'm hoping." Lindsay replied optimistically. "If this doesn't work, I'm pretty sure nothing will." Justin shook his head and started putting his shoes on.

"Oh no, Blondie!" Anthony exclaimed seeing the ratty sneakers Justin was planning on wearing to the club. "We're getting you laid tonight. Take a tip from miss lesbian over there and put on something that's going to get the man of your choice into bed."

"I hate you." Justin grumbled as he went into his room and grabbed a pair of black boots from the bedroom. He sneered when he heard Anthony demand that he wear a different shirt too, but he complied. Grabbing an almost sheer baby blue sweater from the closest, he pulled off his baggy t-shirt and changed. 

When he returned to the living room, Anthony let out a whistle. "Now, see, don't you feel much better now? If you weren't my best friend, I'd even fuck you."

"Great." Justin replied without enthusiasm. 

***

"I hate dyke night." Brian said as he took a big swig from his beer. "Can't we take off and maybe see what's happening at Boi Toi?"

"No!" Michael said as he slugged his friend in the arm. "Anthony is meeting me here tonight!" Brian knew that Michael would say that. His friend was dressed to the nines in an attempt to impress Anthony. 

"Your first real boyfriend!" Brian said sardonically. 

"Why do you say that like you don't believe it? Just because you don't believe in boyfriends..." Michael huffed. "He really likes me, Brian! He thinks I'm hot!" 

"Lots of guys think you're hot." Brian tried to be reassuring. 

"He's here!" Michael exclaimed ignoring Brian's comment. Brian followed Michael's line of sight and found Anthony standing near the door with Lindsay and Justin. As soon as Brian laid eyes on the blond, he felt a tightening in his groin. The nineteen year old looked totally hot in the sheer blue shirt that clung to his body in all the right places.

"Well, why don't you go over there and give him a big, sloppy kiss." Brian was trying very hard to keep the bad ass mask on, but after seeing Justin he was having a lot of trouble. He was taking Daphne's advice and keeping his distance from Justin, and it was getting more and more difficult every time he saw him. In spite of himself, he wanted more than just one night with the kid and he didn't want to get burned in the process.

"Come on, let's go over there and say hi." Michael was little a puppy dog and it made Brian want to puke. 

"I'm good here, but you go ahead." Brian took another big swig of his beer and made a show of checking out the dance floor.

"Ok. See you later." Michael seemed to scamper away and Brian prayed that he would never be so pathetic over a guy.

***

"Here comes little Mikey." Justin groaned. He didn't see Brian behind him and breathed a sigh of relief. He decided that if Brian wasn't with Michael that he had decided not to come to Babylon for dyke night.

"Bring on the hero worship." Anthony said with a big smile. Seeing the two of them, a stranger would have thought they had been a couple forever. Anthony immediately took Michael in his arms and laid a great big kiss on him.

After their passionate kiss ended, Michael was blushing and Anthony was smiling triumphantly. Justin groaned and looked at Lindsay. She was looking around the club to try and catch sight of Melanie. Justin was certain that he was going to end up standing alone in a matter of minutes, until the waiter from the diner that afternoon walked up to him with a big smile on his face.

"Well, hey there. If it isn't the cutie from the diner this afternoon!" Justin had to laugh. Along with the queeny flair Emmett had about him, he had a very thick southern accent. He reminded Justin of a southern belle from an old movie.

"Hi." Justin said with a smile. He hoped that Emmett didn't have designs on him because he wasn't attracted to the super feminine type.

"Why don't we go out on the dance floor and cut a little rug?" Emmett suggested. Justin looked around at his friends, Anthony and Michael were laughing together and Lindsay was grinning and blushing as she watched Melanie walk towards her. 

"Sure." Justin agreed, knowing that if he said no he would end up standing all alone and wallowing some more over Brian.

"Well, come on darlin', let's get out there and show the rest of these men what the little guys can do." Emmett grabbed Justin's hand and they made their way out onto the dance floor. Justin felt a little excited by the new experience. His first boyfriend, Chris, preferred to keep their relationship quiet and they mostly just spent time together at home pretending to their parents that they were just the best of friends. Jonny had liked to go out to clubs with his friends, but he insisted that Justin wouldn't have a good time at the clubs. He did always came home to Justin after though.

***

Brian had been fending off men all night. He knew they all thought he was beautiful and at 22 was used to the attention, but there wasn't much of a thrill there anymore. Now tricking was more about the thrill of the hunt, catching the ones that didn't fall at his feet as soon as they saw him than it was about having some really hot guy pursuing him.

The other reason Brian wasn't interested in finding a trick to take home that night was because he was preoccupied with watching Justin dance with the effeminate waiter who he flirted with at the diner. He didn't like the feeling of jealousy that was beginning to bubble in his belly, but he refused to stop watching. He sort of figured that if Justin left the club with Emmett, he would know that all he had been was just a trick, a means to help him get over the elusive Jonny.

"Hey, gorgeous." A young man with dark hair said to him. Brian glanced over and decided that he would ask the guy to dance. He had no intention of fucking him, but he needed for some reason to be out on the dance floor... where Justin was.

"Let's dance." Brian said shortly, grabbing the front of the guy's shirt and leading him downstairs to the dance floor. When they arrived at the edge of the floor, Brian looked around for the blond head and, upon locating it, led his partner as close to him as possible without seeming conspicuous.

As Brian danced with the guy, he barely even looked at him. He was too busy keeping an eye on Justin and Emmett. They laughed as they danced together and Brian wished that he was the one dancing with Justin.

***

"Ooh, look at him!" Emmett practically shrieked, nodding towards Brian's dance partner. "He's sooooo hot." 

Justin looked over and then looked away fast. He hadn't been paying attention, he had assumed Brian wasn't in the club as soon as he saw Michael approach them alone, and was surprised to see the man he had been in bed with less that twenty-four hours earlier only a few feet away.

"Hey, he's dancing with your friend." Emmett announced. 

"He's not my friend." Justin grumbled causing Emmett to look at him strangely.

"Isn't that the guy you were at the diner with earlier?" 

"Yah. His friend is seeing my friend." Justin considered his statement and revised it. "My friend is fucking his friend is more accurate."

"The blond girl?" 

Justin laughed. "No, she's a dyke. She's around here somewhere trying to get her English tutor into bed. No, he's seeing my friend Anthony."

"Oh." Emmett pondered for a moment. "So, you fucked that guy recently." Justin looked up at him shocked. "I could tell. I may look like a brainless little princess, but I'm verrrry perceptive."

"Yah, well, once you spend a little more time around here I'm sure you'll hear about the infamous Brian Kinney. Never fucks the same guy twice." Justin shook his head, angry.

"Ooh, you got it bad for him, darlin'." Emmett stayed silent for another few moments before he spoke again. "From what I could tell, I think he's got it just as bad as you."

"Was it the fact that he ignored me the whole time that tipped you off?" Justin asked sarcastically. "Or the fact that he checked out every guy that walked in the door?"

"Oh, honey, you'd have to be blind not to see that he wanted you. At first I thought he was shy and that's why he was avoiding eye contact, but now that you told me about his little reputation..." Emmett grinned. "Trust me, darlin', there's something else holding him back, but he sure does want you."

Justin decided not to reply to Emmett's statement. What does he know anyways? he thought to himself. As they continued to dance, Justin very consciously avoided looking at Brian. Suddenly, Emmett moved around him and started dancing with Brian's dance partner. Justin looked up and Brian was looking at him intensely.

Feeling uncomfortable, Justin turned and made his way off the dance floor. He didn't know how to react to Brian's stare, so he instead took the easy road and just walked away. He was almost at the edge of the dance floor when he felt someone grab his arm. Assuming it was Brian, he was reluctant to turn. When he did, he was relieved to see Anthony.

"Hey." He said with a forced smile.

"Hey. Me and Michael are taking off." Anthony said with a wicked grin. "When you get home, don't come into my room, alright? I plan on keeping little Mikey busy all night."

"He's not a screamer, is he?" Justin asked with a sneer.

"I'll make sure he keeps it down." Anthony replied with a chuckle. "Find someone to fuck, it'll make you feel better." He said as he walked away. Justin shook his head and continued on his way towards the bar.

***

Brian shook his head and walked off the dance floor feeling like a fool. He wasn't so sure about his taking Daphne's advice and wondered if he should try to make an effort with Justin instead of backing off and waiting for Justin to be "ready". Making a decision, Brian walked over to where Justin stood and took hold of his arm gently. Justin looked startled but quickly hid it and looked at Brian confidently.

"Hey." Brian said feeling nervous but hoping he was hiding it well.

"Hi." Justin replied. "What's up?"

"I was just thinking of getting out of here. Dyke night is always so depressing. Do you need a lift?" Brian wasn't absolutely sure that he was doing the right thing, but he felt like he should do something before his window of opportunity was gone. Justin was the first guy since high school that made him feel more than a hard on, and Brian felt like that was important. 

As Justin considered Brian's offer, he was confused. Was Brian offering him a ride because he wanted to fuck? Did he want to fuck only because dyke night caused slim pickings at Babylon? Did he actually want to be with him specifically? Justin decided that he would take the chance and go with Brian... but he would keep his guard up this time.

"Sure." He nodded. Brian looked relieved and Justin felt even more confused. 

Other than Justin giving Brian directions, the ride back to his apartment was fairly silent. Every few moments, Justin would sneak peaks over at Justin in an attempt to understand his motivation for offering him the ride. The hadn't touched at all and Justin was wondering if Brian actually did have any intention of the two of them ending up in bed together. 

When they arrived at the apartment, Justin turned to look at Brian who was already looked at him intently. "Thanks for the ride, Anthony and Michael took off and I probably would have had to call a cab."

"No problem." Brian replied. He wasn't sure what else to say. "I was going this way anyways." He felt stupid after saying that and felt the urge to slap himself in the head. 

"Do you... uhm... Do you wanna come up?" Justin asked. He wasn't sure what possessed him to put himself in the situation to get hurt again, but he did.

"Uhm... No... I have to be up early tomorrow. My parents basically leave me alone if I go to church with my mom once a month and tomorrow is that Sunday." Brian said. He knew that sleeping with Justin again so soon wouldn't get him where he wanted to be with Justin, so he went against his instinct.

Justin looked hurt and Brian felt bad. He wondered what Justin was thinking but decided that thinking like that would make him crazy in the end. He considered saying good night to let the boy know that ride was over, but decided to kiss him first.

When Justin saw Brian leaning in to kiss him, he was surprised. Brian's actions went against everything that he'd heard about the other man and he wasn't sure what to think. He almost pulled back when Brian's lips touched his own, but feeling him so close again felt better than anything so he decided to let whatever was going to happen, happen.

The kiss lasted longer than Brian was intending when he first leaned in and he felt the familiar tightening in his groin that normally would have signaled him to get whoever he was kissing to bed as soon as humanly possible. However, this time, it signaled him to end the kiss. When he pulled away, Justin looked startled. 

"Later." Brian said smiling slightly to let the blond know that the kiss was great.

"Later." Justin replied breathlessly as he opened the door and stepped out of the car. As he watched Brian drive away, Justin felt more confused than ever at the mixed signals he was getting from him. Just when you think you have someone figured out, they throw something like that at you, Justin thought as he made his way into the apartment hoping that Anthony and Michael made it to the bedroom and that he didn't find them fucking on the couch.


	5. Chapter 5

"Bri, you won't believe this guy I met last night." Daphne gushed over coffee in the apartment. "His name is Tiernan. He's so amazing! I met him at the library and when we both grabbed for the same book!" She said airily. Brian chuckled. He had never seen Daphne so girly.

"Well, well, well, least I'm 100% sure I'm not living with a dyke now." Brian laughed. "So, when are you going to see Mr. Wonderful again?"

"He's taking me out to dinner tonight." Daphne seemed to be off in her own little world. "I think this guy is definitely boyfriend material."

"So I guess he's gonna be sleeping over if this works out, huh?" Brian made a show of groaning. "You two had better keep it down, hearing straight sex in the next room could make me lose my hard on permanently." Daphne laughed.

"Never going to happen. You have a perma-hard on like no one else I know." She said. "So, speaking of your cock, who was last night's victim? He must have already left by the time I got home." 

"No victim." Brian said with a sly smile. "It was dyke night. I gave Justin a ride home, but we said goodbye before he got out of the car."

"Didn't want to fuck you, huh?" Daphne grinned, assuming that her over-sexed friend got shot down.

"No." Brian replied with a little grin on his face. "He invited me up but I said no." He became even more amused as he watched realization of what he just said dawn on his friend's face.

"You, Brian Kinney, turned down an invitation into that little cutie's bed?" Daphne asked incredulously. She had never seen Brian turn down a hot guy before.

"Why is that so shocking?" He asked, putting up his best innocent front. He knew it wasn't going to get him anywhere, Daphne knew him too well for that, but it was worth at least a try.

"Don't act so innocent. I know you too well. You're a man whore, Bri."

"Gee, thanks." Brian shoved his tongue against his cheek. "Ever think that I might want more from this kid that just a fuck?" He watched Daphne's face for several seconds as she processed what he was telling her. He couldn't wait to hear what she had to say.

"Jesus! You really do like this kid!" Daphne was shocked. When she found out that he let the blond spend the night at the apartment, she knew that he wasn't some run of the mill trick, but she had never imagined that Brian would like him that much.

"Stop the presses." Brian said dryly as he rolled his eyes. 

"Stop the fucking act, Bri. This is a totally new thing for you. You haven't had a boyfriend since..." Daphne stopped. In the shocked state she was in, she had forgotten that talking about Brian's ex was forbidden territory.

"You can say his name, Daph. Jamie." Brian knew that his being able to talk about it would shock his roommate. He had always kept talking about his one relationship in the off-limits category, but now that he was possibly on the verge of having another relationship, he figured he might as well find a way to talk about the guy who soured him on relationships in the first place.

"Ok, you haven't had a boyfriend since Jamie. So what's the deal with this kid?" Daphne asked, overcoming her shock.

"I donno. I like him, I guess." The look on Brian's face told her that he would never tell her anything again if what he was saying left that room. 

"Well, well, well..." Daphne looked at him and tried to decide what else to say about his revelation. She would normally have teased him relentlessly, but she knew that if she did he would close up and stop telling her anything other than it was her day to take out the trash. "What are you going to do about it?"

"That's where I'm fucked. I have no idea what to do. Sex is easy, I'm awesome at that part, it's the relationship shit that I'm clueless about." Brian took a big gulp from his coffee and waited for words of wisdom from his roommate. 

"Take it slow." Daphne advised. "Don't base it on fucking, that's where most relationships go wrong. Get to know him. Let him know you." Brian wasn't sure how to react to what Daphne was telling him. He was very cautious when it came to opening up to someone for fear of getting hurt and since Jamie left him, he hadn't opened up entirely to anyone.

"No fucking?" He asked, refusing to go into the part about opening up right away.

"I didn't say no fucking, I said don't base it on fucking. If you do that, it'll only work as long as you're both happy with having a superficial relationship." Daphne pondered a moment. "And I have a feeling that little Justin wouldn't be happy with that for very long and you'd both end up getting hurt."

"So I have to do all the sentimental bullshit like telling him about my childhood and my dreams and goals?" Brian sneered. 

"Not all at once." Daphne chuckled. Her friend was such a smart guy, yet so clueless about any human interaction that went beyond fucking that it stunned her sometimes. "Take it slow, but actually take the time to get to know each other. Ask him about himself, answer him with something sincere instead of sarcasm when he asks about you. Stuff like that."

"I'll try." Brian said shaking his head. He wasn't so sure he was ready for what he was getting into. Complete honesty didn't come easy to him at all. He looked at the clock. "Grr, I have to go. The Catholic Church calls."

***

"All she wanted to do was cuddle! When she asked me back to her place I thought for sure that the outfit had worked and that she wanted me! Gawd! If I wanted to cuddle, I could cuddle with you, my big gay teddy bear." Lindsay ranted. She and Justin were sitting on his couch watching Disney's Hercules and eating Ritz crackers.

"Gee, thanks." Justin rolled his eyes. "Why don't you just ask her to fuck you already? If I hear much more about it, I'm gonna fuck you myself." 

"Someone's in a mood this morning." Lindsay pouted. "I thought you'd be in a great mood since you left with Brian last night." She had seen the two of them walk towards the door together and figured that her friend had gone home with the gorgeous senior.

"He drove me home." He said shooting her a look. "He kissed me and that was it. I invited him up and he made up some excuse about going to church with his mom this morning."

"Why do you think it was an excuse?"

"Brian Kinney in church? Picture it and then ask me that question again." Justin said shaking his head. Lindsay paused a moment and laughed. 

"You're right. He would have the Priest in the confessional for an hour, probably give the poor guy a heart attack." Lindsay smiled. "But he kissed you, that's a good sign." Justin shrugged. "Why don't you call him up and see if he wants to get together."

"I don't have his phone number. Plus, I don't think Brian's big on dating. From what I've heard about him, a date is too much time for him to spend with one person unless that time is spent rolling around naked in bed." Justin laid his head on Lindsay's shoulder. "And, I mean, he's different with me than I've heard he is with other guys, but I just don't want to get my hopes up."

"I don't know what to tell you, Justin. I have absolutely no idea what goes on in a gay man's head." Lindsay wrapped her arm around him. The door opened and Anthony walked in. He'd left to drive Michael home before Justin woke up that morning.

"Where ya' been?" Justin asked. He looked at the clock and noticed that it was after noon. He'd been up since nine, so Anthony had been gone for over three hours at least.

"Michael thought we needed to talk." Anthony rolled his eyes. "He insisted we go out to his favorite spot, said he wanted to share it with me, and then he proceeded to tell me how he's never felt this close to anyone in his life and that he thinks that I'm, get this, the one!" Anthony walked over and squeezed onto the couch with Lindsay and Justin. "How do you break up with some guy who thinks he's in love with you after two days? He'll probably stalk me or something."

"Told ya so." Justin said, avoiding looking at his friend.

"Shut up, Mr. Know-It-All." Anthony groaned. "I need to get Michael off my back, like now."

"Tell him you'll meet him at Babylon and make sure he sees you leaving with someone else." Lindsay suggested. Justin and Anthony both looked at her, shocked.

"When the hell did you get so cold and heartless?" Justin asked when he finally found his voice again. He'd never heard anything like that come out of his ever-the-romantic friend's mouth.

"Think about it," Lindsay began. "Picking up some guy to bring back here to fuck isn't exactly a new thing for you. If the two of you haven't set any rules for your relationship you haven't given him any reason to think you'd stop, right?"

"You know, Linds, I think you may have the right idea. Not only will it get him to back off me, but he'll hate me too much to stalk me." A smile spread across Anthony's face. He stood and picked Lindsay up off the couch. "You're a genius!" He said, kissing her cheek.

"Why can't you give me any good advice?" Justin asked, pouting. 

"I don't know how to get guys, but I've spent quite a lot of time getting rid of them." Lindsay said with a bit of an evil grin showing. 

"What's the problem?" Anthony asked. He hadn't heard anything about Justin's new dilemma with Brian.

"Brian drove him home last night, gave him a kiss, didn't want to come up, said something about going to church, and called it a night." Lindsay reviewed for him, looking at Justin to see if he missed anything. 

"I asked him to come up and he said he had to be up early today to go to church. Then he kissed me." Justin's confusion was making him miserable.

"Damn!" Anthony shook his head. "This is Brian Kinney were talking about here?" Justin nodded. "And he turned down a chance to fuck, but it wasn't a flat out shut down, and then he kissed you?"

"That's about the long and short." Justin nodded. "You look about as confused as I feel." Anthony just stared at him as he pondered Justin's situation. 

"Sounds like he likes you." Anthony said. "Maybe he does like you but he's not sure how to deal with that. I mean, the guy's one of the biggest studs on campus, he's probably not used to actually being interested in more than fucking from a guy." 

"I guess Michael didn't say anything, huh?" Lindsay asked.

"No, when we weren't fucking like mad fiends, I'm pretty sure he was too busy planning what our house was going to look like and whether we'd have a summer or a winter commitment ceremony." Anthony shuddered. "We never really talked. And we definitely never talked about Brian."

"I guess I'll just have to go crazy waiting to see what Brian does next." Justin sighed. "I just hope he does something soon. If I have to wait much longer, I'm going to lose it completely."

"I know what'll cheer you both up!" Lindsay announced. 

"What?" Anthony and Justin asked in unison. 

"Let's go out to Liberty and do a little shopping!" 

***

"It's going so great with Anthony." Michael gushed as he and Brian picked at a plate of french fries at the Liberty Diner. They went there a lot because when Michael's mom was working, she snuck them free fries. "I think he could really be the guy, Brian."

"How does he feel about it?" Brian asked. He already kind of figured that Anthony wasn't as thrilled about the relationship as Michael. From what he could tell, Anthony was a lot like him and he knew that he would never be able to handle someone getting clingy after only a couple of days. Actually, Brian was pretty sure he couldn't handle someone getting as clingy as Michael ever, and he was almost certain that went for Anthony too.

"He's as happy as I am." Michael said confidently. "I took him out to the river this morning. I've never taken anyone other than you out to my special place. While we were out there we talked and it really seems like he feels the same way about me as I do about him."

Brian doubted it. He estimated that Anthony was probably wracking his brain's right at that moment of a way to get rid of Michael. Brian couldn't really blame him, he knew just how clingy Michael could be. He just hoped that Anthony didn't break his friend's heart.

"Hey! There he is!" Michael jumped out of the booth when he saw Anthony on the other side of the street walking down Liberty with Justin and Lindsay. "I'm going to go say hi. It's only been a couple of hours, but I totally missed him already."

"Jesus, Michael." Brian hissed under his breath as he stood and followed Michael out of the diner. "What are you getting yourself into..." 

***

"Michael alert." Justin said as he noticed Michael hurrying out of the diner. He knew that Michael was the last person Anthony wanted to see right at that moment. "He's coming this way, out of the diner."

"Fuck!" Anthony didn't dare look, he would have to talk to Michael if he made eye contact. "Meet me at the car in half an hour." He said before grabbing Lindsay and pulling her into a store. He knew someone who worked there and he knew he could sneak out the back door. 

Justin was a little startled but he continued walking, intent on appearing to be going to the used bookstore, as if nothing strange had happened. "Justin! Hey, Justin!" He heard his name being called and was tempted to ignore it and pretend he didn't hear it, but decided that he'd better just talk to the guy.

"Oh, hey, Michael." Justin said as he turned. When he saw Brian, he was surprised. He hadn't seen him when he saw Michael. "Hi, Brian."

"Where did Anthony and Lindsay go?" Michael asked. 

"Oh, uhm, Anthony remembered he had to talk to a friend of his at that store so I told him that I was going to go to the bookstore and that I'd see him later." Justin lied poorly.

"Oh." Michael seemed disappointed. "Well, I'm sure he'll want to see me, so I'm going to go in there and find him." With that, Michael hurried into the store in search of Anthony.

"He was going to sneak out the back door right?" Brian asked, having seen right through Justin's lie. 

"Yah, most likely." Justin said, almost wanting to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. "I think Michael is driving him a little crazy."

"I kinda figured that." Brian said with a smile. "Mikey can be a little... hard to take sometimes." 

"Yah, I think Anthony is feeling pretty suffocated." Justin didn't want to betray his friend's trust, so he tried not to say too much.

"We're both understating things, aren't we?" Brian laughed. Justin nodded and laughed along with him.

"He's not in there!" Michael said, pouting as he walked out of the store. "How can he just disappear? A whole person and he just completely disappeared! I'm sure he'll be upset that he missed me." 

"Well, we'd better get back to our lunch." Brian said. "Why don't I meet you back in the diner in a sec, Mikey?"

"Fine." Michael pouted as he walked back to the diner. Brian and Justin looked at each other silently until Michael was a safe distance away.

"So..." Justin said, unable to find anything else to say. He wasn't sure where he was at with Brian, if they were even friends. 

"Did you maybe want to come over to my apartment tonight and we could watch a movie and maybe order some Chinese or something?" Brian asked. Daphne had advised him that it might be a good idea to invite Justin over so they could just hang out alone.

"Like a date?" Justin asked, shocked.

"Yah, like a date." Brian replied, with a bit of a smile.


	6. Chapter 6

As Justin walked up to Brian's apartment, he tried to make himself stop trembling. He hadn't told Anthony or Lindsay about his date with Brian because he didn't exactly know what was going on and he didn't want to get into it with his friends before he was sure exactly what Brian wanted from him. On his way over, he'd stopped at the store and picked up his favorite desert, Two Bite Brownies, and hoped Brian liked them.

"Hello." Brian answered when Justin buzzed. 

"It's Justin. I'm downstairs." He replied.

"Come on up. Apartment 409." Brian said before buzzing Justin into his building. Daphne had gone out on her date with Mr. Wonderful and Brian hoped that she would be late so that he could spend some time alone with Justin. 

Brian already had the door open when Justin walked up to it. He smiled and let Justin in. They made their way to the living room and sat down. "So, uhm, did you want to order food now?" Brian asked.

"Not yet. I'm not really hungry... unless you're hungry... I, uhm, brought some dessert. Do you like brownies?" Justin was extremely nervous.

"Love 'em." Brian replied with a smile. "We can order pizza after the movie if you want. Do you want something to drink?"

"A beer?" Justin asked.

"Sure, I'll be right back." Brian said as he disappeared into the kitchen. He was nervous and he knew that Justin was too. He hoped that everything went well with the evening. He grabbed two beers and a glass in case Justin didn't want to drink out of the bottle and made his way out to the livingroom where Justin was sitting on the couch fidgeting with his fingers.

"Here you go." Brian said, handing the younger man the bottle before sitting down next to him on the couch. "Uhm, I got a couple of videos after I dropped Mikey off. I didn't know what you like, so..." Brian grabbed the stack of three videos and handed them to Justin.

"Ooh, this one!" Justin seemed to loosen up when he saw that Brian had rented one of his favorites, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. "This movie rocks!" Brian chuckled.

"I have to agree. Did you want to start it now, or did you want to talk for a bit?" He asked. He noticed a change in Justin as soon as he said it. The boy seemed confused.

"Uhm, sure, we can talk." He replied, a little shaken. He hadn't imagined Brian wanting to really sit down and talk in any of the scenarios for the evening that he'd played out in his head. "What... uh... What do you want to talk about?"

"You know, I don't even know what you're taking." Brian said, taking a sip of his beer and leaning back on the couch, getting comfortable. Daphne had told him that he and Justin needed to get to know each other and he planned to do just that.

"I'm an art student. Ultimately I want to be a computer animator or a graphic designer. I do all sorts of art, I draw and paint a little. I've even tried my hand at sculpting a few times." Justin seemed to loosen up when he started talking about art, his first love.

"Wow, you didn't strike me as an artist." And Brian wasn't lying. He'd pictured Justin doing something more practical, like business or something. It had never struck him that the kid was doing something less conventional.

"My parents hate that I'm an artist." Justin chuckled. "They think that's why I'm gay." 

"So you're out to your family then?" 

"Yep, though I didn't really come out on purpose." Justin thought back to the night his parents had caught him and Chris in a passionate embrace in the pool when he thought they were at his Grandparents house for the afternoon.

"Got caught?"

"Red handed." Justin confirmed. Brian laughed at the expression on his face. "It was never really my idea to keep it a secret anyways. I wanted to tell my parents as soon as I hooked up with my first boyfriend, it never occurred to me that our parents would care."

"Was he a friend?" Brian asked, thinking about his almost encounter with Michael when they were 17.

"Yah. He was." Justin's voice held regret.

"Not anymore?"

"I haven't talked to him since that day." He said sadly. "My dad dragged us out of the pool and immediately called Chris's parents. They were furious, they had him on a plane to live with his uncle in Texas that night."

"He never called you?"

"Nope." Justin shook his head. "That was almost two years ago now... seems longer." Justin was surprised at how easy he was finding it to talk to Brian. "What about you? Is it true that you don't 'do' boyfriends?"

"I had a boyfriend once." Brian said. He had never been able to tell anyone about everything that happened with Jamie. Not even Daphne, and certainly not Michael, all the knew was that Brian had been devastated when it ended. He remembered Daphne telling him that he had to let Justin know him if he wanted anything to happen between the two of them, so he decided to go for. "He kinda made me not want to do it again."

"So you don't want a boyfriend now?" Justin asked feeling his hopes about Brian dissolve.

"Not one like Jamie, and it seems like most of 'em are carbon copies."

"Tell me about him." Justin said gently, hoping that Brian would open up to him. He'd always been the type of person who liked to talk about his feelings instead of locking them up and letting them fester and he hoped Brian could open up to him.

"Well, like I said, his name was Jamie. I met him when I was a senior in high school. I came on a campus tour before I sent in my application, before that I'd been planning on going out of state, he was the tour guide. Before that, I guess I experimented with guys and stuff, but once I hooked up with him I learned that what I had been doing was kid stuff." Brian took a deep breath. "In the beginning, we were having sex all the time. So I decided not to go out of state."

"You were in love."

"I guess." Brian shrugged. "It's all tainted now, you know? It's like everything I thought was happening at the time was all bullshit. After I moved out of my parents place and started going out to clubs with him and stuff, everything was different. He wanted to trick together, pick up guys and take them home... He told me that gay men weren't meant to be monogamous and that he never had any intention of being so. I believed him. So I told him that he could do whatever he wanted, as long as he didn't kiss them. I started tricking too. I guess it started going to shit from there. He graduated and moved away, told me he was going to forget about me, and I stayed here." Brian couldn't believe that he'd told Justin all that, but somehow he knew that Justin wouldn't think him weak because of it.

"So now you trick like crazy and avoid relationships like the plague." It wasn't a question.

"What about you? What happened with that Jonny guy?" Brian desperately needed to change the subject. He promised himself that he wouldn't close up on Justin, but there was only so many bad memories he could bring back in a night.

"I met him just before graduation, about a year ago. My parents were convinced that the 'gay thing' had just been a phase and things were pretty much okay at home. I guess it wasn't long after Ant and I became friends, he'd gotten us fake id's and we went to Boi Toi." Justin chuckled. "I was in heaven." Brian laughed too. 

"First time you'd been in a room full of gay boys?" He asked, amused. He remembered a time when he felt a rush just being around people who were like him.

"Yep. I was terrified, but it felt so good." Justin paused for a moment and let himself go back to that night. "I met Jonny there, he was only a year older than me and we got along great. I'm not even sure when it stopped being great, probably a couple of months ago. He met someone and left me for him."

"Still upset?" Brian hoped as hard as he could that Justin was over the other guy.

"Not upset really, I regret how it ended though. I always kind of thought that I'd be the kid of person who stayed friends with their ex's and I'm 0 for 2 now." Justin chuckled.

"I have a rule about never fucking my friends. Made that rule when I was 17 when I almost fucked up my relationship with Michael." Brian admitted. 

"You slept with Michael?" Justin made a face and Brian could tell that the blond wasn't too fond of his best friend.

"No, we made out, I guess. Kissed, touched each other on top of the clothes, adolescent shit. But it fucked things up for a while." Brian shook his head and smiled. "This sure is a heavy conversation for the first date."

"Yah, it is. Why don't we watch the movie?" 

Brian nodded and grabbed the tape. He slipped it into the machine and turned out the lights before returning to the couch. Over the course of the movie, the two repositioned themselves many times before ending up spooning, Brian holding Justin close to his chest.

***

"Well, I guess it's time to say goodnight." Justin said turning to Brian, who had offered to drive him home. Justin was thrilled with how the night turned out. After the movie, they'd ordered pizza and talked, though not as seriously this time. They talked about books and movies and food. 

"Yah, I guess it is." Brian nodded. He was completely unsure of what he was supposed to do at the end of the night, he and Daphne hadn't covered that part. "Can we do this again sometime?"

"I'd like that." Justin smiled. He had been wondering all night if Brian was going to try anything with him, he was kind of hoping that he would. However, Brian didn't look like he was moving, so Justin decided to stop being a pussy and make a move. He remembered that Brian had liked when he took initiative at Woody's that night.

Justin leaned over and slid his hand around the back of Brian's neck, slowly bringing their faces back together. As their lips touched, both pairs of eyes drifted closed and they lost themselves in the kiss. As the kiss intensified, they became wrapped in each other. Soon, their hands were exploring underneath each other's shirt, teasing nipples and rubbing hard flesh.

When Brian pulled away, Justin was startled. He was becoming more and more confused by Brian with every passing moment. Sometimes it seemed like Brian and he were really making a connection and other times it felt like Brian was pulling away, putting distance between them.

"I'll call you tomorrow?" Brian asked for permission, breaking the silence in the now steamy car.

"Yah."

"K. Later." Brian grinned.

"Later." Justin sighed as he climbed from the car, wondering if he would ever figure the other man out.

When Justin walked into the apartment, he found Anthony sitting on the couch looking troubled. He wondered what had happened with Michael. "Hey, Ant. What's matter?"

"Remember Lindsay's advice about picking up a trick and leaving Michael high a dry?" Justin nodded, taking a seat next to his roommate. "Well, I took it. We went to Babylon tonight and I made a big show of finding the hottest guy in the place and taking him to the back room." 

"And..?"

"You should have seen Michael's face." Anthony sounded tortured. "He looked like someone had just killed his dog." 

"You didn't expect it?"

"I didn't think I would care." Anthony admitted. "I kind of feel bad about hurting the little fucker."

"Uh oh." Justin did like where the conversation was going.

"I don't want him back or anything. He was driving me up the fucking wall. I just think I should have been at least a little bit human." Anthony pushed his fingers through his hair. 

"He had no reason to think that you two were a couple." Justin reminded his friend even though he knew that if it had been him in Michael's place, he would have been heart broken too. Brian would never do that, would he?

"I know." Anthony shook his head. "Was your night better than mine?"

"I kind of had a date." 

"With?"

"Brian." 

"Kinney?"

"Uh huh." 

"When the fuck did this happen?"

"When you and Linds ditched me this afternoon to hide from little Mikey, Brian asked me to come over and watch a movie." Justin almost blushed.

"It's only midnight. Why are you home already?"Anthony obviously assumed that by date Justin meant that he and Brian were having sex. "Shouldn't you still be basking in the afterglow?"

"We didn't fuck." Justin admitted. "He didn't even try to kiss me. I had to kiss him when he dropped me off. And then when things got hot he pulled back."

"Is that guy on crack?" Anthony asked, amazed. "Biggest stud on campus and he's not trying to get you in his bed."

"You forget, I've already been there." Justin reminded his friend.

"Sounds like he's going all hetero and trying to have a relationship with you." 

"You make it sound like that's a bad thing." Justin sneered. 

"It just seems weird. I were you? I'd keep my guard up when it comes to Kinney. You never know what kind of game he's playing." Anthony warned.

"I know." Justin looked down at his hands. "He confuses the shit out of me. In my life I've met two different kinds of fags. There are the ones like me, the ones who want the relationship, the boyfriend. And there are the ones like you, the ones who only want to fuck. Seems like Brian has a split personality or something because I've seen him be both."

"And to think, I almost fucked him."

"Don't remind me." Justin hated the knowledge that Brian had wanted Anthony first and the only reason they hadn't hooked up was because he interrupted.

***

Brian dropped his keys on the table and checked to see if Daphne was home. She wasn't. He walked over to the answering machine, which said there was three new messages. He pressed play before going to get a beer.

"Brian, it's Michael. *sniffle* I need to talk to you. Call me as soon as you get this." beep

"Brian, me again. *sniffle, sniffle* Please call me, I really need you right now. Anthony dumped me." beep

"Brian, I'm coming over." beep

"Fuck." Brian groaned. Having a sobbing, whining Michael on his hands was exactly what he didn't need. He was still trying to figure out how to proceed with Justin. Moments after the message ended, there was a knock on the door and Brian knew that it was Michael. As soon as he opened the door, the whining began.

"Is there something wrong with me? Why doesn't he want me anymore? What did I do wrong?" Michael whined, launching himself into Brian's arms.

"It's not you, Mikey." Brian said in his best comforting voice. "Anthony just isn't a boyfriend guy, I told you that from the beginning."

"Oh! So now you're taking your chance to say 'I told you so'!" Michael raged, taking out his emotions on Brian. "Fine! I guess your kind have to stick together."

"My kind?" Brian raised an eyebrow and pressed his tongue against the side of his cheek.

"Guys who only like to fuck!" Michael started to sob. "How could I have been so stupid? He was only keeping me busy so that little bastard Justin could get his claws into you!"

"Step lightly, Michael." Brian warned.

"Don't tell me you're actually still seeing the little slut! Can't you see that he's just like Anthony? He's just going to use you and then throw you away? He's probably using you to get back at his ex boyfriend." Brian winced, Michael was tapping in on one of his biggest fears about the situation with Justin.

"Leave it alone, Michael."

"Don't keep seeing him, Brian! If you're really my friend, you won't see him anymore." Michael said pleadingly, laying his forehead on Brian's chest.


	7. Chapter 7

"Hey, hot stuff, going my way?"

Justin turned to find Brian standing by a tree with a big grin on his face. Justin had been walking across campus on his way back to the art building from the coffee shop. "Hey, stranger." He replied with a smile, walking over to where Brian stood.

"Whatcha doin'?" Brian asked playfully. Justin had never seen him in a such a goofy mood and figured that it must be a good day.

"Going back to work on some stuff in the studio?? Justin shrugged. "Just went to get a latte."

"Mmm... Latte." Brian leaned down and took a sip from the cup in Justin's hand. "Yummy." 

"What's got you acting like little Mary Sunshine?" Justin asked with a smile.

"You're Sunshine." Brian reminded the blond as he slipped his arm around his waist. "I'm not allowed to be happy to be talking to the hottest guy on campus?"

"The hottest guy on campus? You talking to yourself again?" Justin slid his arm around Brian as well and they began walking. 

"Very funny." Brian rolled his eyes playfully. "Wanna come over tonight?"

"Sure." Justin said with a smile. He was really happy with where his relationship with Brian seemed to be going. "What are we going to do?"

"I donno. Maybe watch another movie or something?" Brian shrugged. He honestly didn't care what they did as long as he got to spend time with Justin. 

"Sounds good." Justin smiled. They reached the art building and broke apart. "Do you have class now?"

"No, I have this afternoon off." Brian replied. "Wanna slack on whatever you have to do in the studio and come out and play with me?"

"Wish I could." Justin groaned. "I have a big project due in a couple of days and I'm barely even started." 

"Aww." Brian pouted playfully and then brightened. "Come over at seven though?"

"For sure." Justin beamed. 

"Ok, later, Sunshine." Brian smiled before leaning down to kiss Justin softly. 

"Later." Justin said airily before turning and walking into the art building.

***

"Soooo." Daphne giggled. "How did it go?"

"It went well." Brian smiled. "He's coming over tonight. It's weird, I didn't get all freaked to be seen walking with my arm around him or kissing him goodbye." 

"I told you that paying him a visit on campus was a good plan." Daphne smiled. "I'm a little surprised that you walked with your arm around him though. I thought it would take weeks to get you to that point."

"I didn't think I'd ever want to be there.." Brian smiled. "But it felt good."

"Someone's falling in looooove." Daphne giggled. 

"Shut up, brat." Brian said, but kept his smile. He was having a hard time keeping the smile off his face ever since seeing Justin earlier that day.

"So, what are you guys going to do tonight?"

"I don't know." Brian shrugged. "I hope it ends with the two of us in bed though." He had been trying really hard to wait, like Daphne suggested, but was getting impatient.

"Brian." She replied firmly. "I thought you were going to wait until you knew each other better."

"But I want him now." Brian whined. "I got a taste of him already... and last night we were kissing and... Gawd, Daph... I don't have the will power!"

"Stop acting like a child." Daphne admonished. "You're a big boy now, Brian Kinney. If you're going to have a serious, lasting relationship you have to hold off on the sex."

"You're evil! I think I need to find another fag to ask for advice. He'd tell me to fuck Justin." Brian crossed his arms.

"Ask Michael." Daphne said with a half smile.

"Yah... that's not going to work so well." Brian shook his head, wishing she hadn't reminded him of his conversation with Michael the previous night.

"Why's that? Little Mikey jealous?" Daphne knew that he had to be. Unless he's still wrapped up in Anthony... she thought to herself.

"He told me last night that if I was his friend I'd stop seeing Justin." Brian shook his head. "He got dumped by Anthony and apparently Justin is the ultimate in evil for being friend's with the little slut."

"Little slut?" Daphne raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't too long ago you wanted to fuck said little slut."

"That's different." Brian said adamantly. "All you need to do is talk to Michael once to know that he doesn't play the game. Anthony was just fucking with him the whole time."

"Does little Justin play the game?" Daphne raised an eyebrow.

"Again, that's different. I'm not fucking with him." He didn't like how the conversation was going. He knew that Daphne was none to fond of his best friend and liked to keep away from where that specific topic of conversation was going.

"Well, you can't take all the blame off Michael. He had to know that Anthony was playing. Plus, didn't you tell me you tried to warn him?" Daphne didn't think it would be good for Brian's relationship with Justin if he already hated Anthony.

"Can we get back to what really matters?" Brian asked, desperate to change the subject. "How long do I have to wait to take Justin to bed?"

"Three more dates at least." Daphne said firmly. Brian groaned. "Trust me, Bri, he'll love that you have that much respect for him."

"Yah, right."

***

Justin, freshly showered and dressed in his best "Fuck Me" clothes, stepped out of the washroom to let Anthony inspect him. "So? Do you think this will get me past making out?"

"If it doesn't, I'm telling ya, the guy went hetero." Anthony chuckled. "Seriously, baby, I'd fuck ya." He grinned.

"No, you wouldn't." Justin laughed. "Not unless I was some random guy on the street somewhere." Anthony laughed.

"If you weren't my best friend, I'd have totally fucked you by now." Anthony chuckled. "But back to the matter at hand. If Brian doesn't fuck you tonight, I'd say he's demonstrating more self control than he normally would and you should call him on it."

"Good plan." Justin chuckled. Suddenly, Lindsay burst through the door looking flushed and smiling widely. 

"Well, well, well, looks like our little girl got Miss Melanie into bed last night." Anthony laughed knowingly. He could always tell when Lindsay got laid, she seemed to glow.

"Sure did." Lindsay kicked off her shoes and came inside. "Oh my gawd, you guys. It was the best night of my life! She took me to her apartment and we had wine..." Lindsay sighed contentedly. "And then we made love... Melanie said that what we did wasn't run of the mill fucking... it was making love."

"Awww... how wonderfully lesbionic." Anthony chuckled. "Maybe this is a sign, Jus! Linds got her tutor into bed, now maybe you can get Brian into bed." Lindsay laughed out loud.

"Brian Kinney! Not wanting to sleep with him?? You've got to be joking!" Lindsay was laughing so hard she was holding her sides. When she saw Justin and Anthony looking at her curiously, she stopped. "You're serious?? Brian won't sleep with you? Is he on drugs?"

"I said the same thing." Anthony informed her. "Seems Mr. Kinney wants to pursue a ‘relationship' with our little Blondie here."

"Whoa!" Lindsay exclaimed. "Where did this come from?"

"Who knows." Justin shrugged and then looked at his watch. "Shit, I have to go. Brian is waiting."

"Better hurry!" Anthony teased. "Good luck with the whole fucking issue! I expect a full report when you get home... be it tonight or tomorrow."

"Hopefully tomorrow." Justin grinned. "Bye, you guys." And with that, he was gone.

***

"Aren't you leaving yet?" Brian whined. It was almost seven and Daphne was still hanging out in the apartment. She had promised him that she would go to the library to give him and Justin some time alone.

"I wanna wait til your boy gets here." Daphne grinned. "I'd like to say hello to him." She had an evil look on her face and Brian didn't even want to know what she was up to.

"Next time!" He said firmly, taking her hand and leading her to the door. When he opened it to push her outside he found Justin on the other side. "Uhm, hey."

"Hey." Justin smiled. "Someone was leaving when I got here so I just slipped in while the door was open."

"No problem." Brian smiled. Daphne cleared her throat and Brian winced. "Do you remember my roommate, Daphne?"

"Yah." Justin smiled. "Good to see you." 

"You too." Daphne smiled and grabbed her backpack. "Well, I have to head over to the library. See the two of you later." She paused and cast a look at Brian. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do." She said knowingly. 

Brian had already started to rationalize to himself why it would be a good idea to go against Daphne's advice and take Justin to bed as soon as he had the door closed, but her reminder set him straight almost immediately. He knew, however, that it was going to be a long night.

"Come on in. Have a seat." Brian gestured to the couch. "Something to drink?"

"Sure. I'll have whatever you're having." Justin said with a smile. As Brian exited the room, Justin congratulated himself on choosing the right attire. He saw the way Brian looked him up and down, desire burning in his eyes, as soon as he opened the door. Justin was almost certain that no matter what Brian's good intentions, he would get him into bed that night.

"Beer ok?" Brian asked as he reentered the room.

"Yah, beers great." Justin said with a smile. Brian came over and sat on the couch, not close enough tho for Justin's liking, and put two beers down on the table. Sliding closer to Brian, Justin asked, "So, did you find someone to play with this afternoon?"

"I just came back here. Daph and I hung out for a bit." Brian shrugged. He wasn't sure whether it was just him or Justin was putting the moves on him. He wondered about the outfit as soon as Justin walked in the door. The skin tight FCUK t-shirt and the low slung, snug fitting black jeans looked amazing on the blond, and Brian wondered whether he'd be able to follow Daphne's orders and keep his hands off the younger man.

"Would have been more fun to play with me." Justin grinned, placing his hand on Brian's thigh. Brian gulped and turned to look at the blond.

"For sure." He croaked out. He couldn't believe how beautiful the guy next to him was. Justin was smiling and looking at him intently.

"Wanna play now?" Justin asked in his most seductive voice. Brian nodded and soon the two attacked each other, scrambling to get as close to the other as possible as they pressed their lips together. 

Brian loved kissing, it was one of his favorite parts of sex, but he was sure that he had never liked kissing anyone as much as he liked kissing Justin. Everything about his kiss was sexy and amazing. The full lips that tasted vaguely like tooth paste and cinnamon gum drove Brian to insanity. Soon, he had Justin on his back beneath him, legs wrapped around his waist. 

Just as Brian slipped his hands under Justin's shirt with the intent to pull it over his head and off, there was a loud banging on the door. "Fuck." He grumbled. 

"Do you have to get that?" Justin asked, pulling Brian's face back to his for a long, deep kiss. Brian drove his tongue into Justin's mouth, intending to ignore whoever was at the door completely. The banging continued and Brian groaned. He didn't want anything to interrupt with Justin, so he decided to tell whoever it was to go away and then get back to his waiting lover as quickly as possible.

"Give me one minute." Brian said, pressing one more quick kiss to Justin's lips before standing and walking to the door. "This had better be fucking good." He grumbled. He pulled open the door and found Michael standing there.

"Hey!" Michael said with a grin, trying to walk past Brian into the apartment. Brian blocked the doorway and looked Michael hard in the eye.

"What are you doing here Michael?" He asked, annoyed.

"I came over to see if you wanted to go to Woody's for a few drinks." Michael replied, once again trying to come into the apartment. "I was so busy with Anthony for the last few days that we haven't really hung out. In a way, I guess it's good that he dumped me."

"I'm busy." Brian said, thinking on his toes. "I have a big project to finish up."

"Oh." Michael was disappointed. "Well, can I come in and hang out for at least a few minutes?"

"Actually, Mikey, Daphne has her new boyfriend over and I think she would prefer if we didn't have any more company tonight." Brian said, again thinking quickly.

"Oh. Well, I guess I'll call you tomorrow." Michael tried to look really disappointed in hopes that Brian would change his mind. "You sure you don't want to come out and maybe find some guy to fuck and forget about Justin?"

"Not tonight, Mikey." Brian replied.

"Alright. Bye." Mikey turned and walked away. Brian breathed a sigh of relief and turned to return to the living room.

"Homework? Daphne's boyfriend?" Justin demanded, angry. "What the fuck, Brian!"

"Listen, Justin, this seriously isn't what it looks like." Brian hurried over to Justin, hoping to get a chance to explain.

"It looks like you're keeping me a secret from little Mikey." Justin refused to calm down. As soon as Michael said that Brian should trick and forget about Justin, he had been ready to walk to the door and give both of them a piece of his mind.

"There's a good explanation." Brian tried to reason.

"Fuck your explanation and fuck you." Justin grabbed his coat and began putting his shoes on. "I'm not going to be some dark little secret."

"He's just pissed because you're friends with Anthony." 

"So because he's mad, you're not going to tell him about us?" Justin was pissed.

"Can't we just keep it quiet until Mikey cools down?" Brian couldn't believe how Justin was reacting.

"You know what? When you're ready to grow a pair and stop being a fucking pussy, give me a call and maybe we can give it a shot. Until then, you might as well go out and find a trick to forget about me. I'm gone." With that, Justin walked out of the apartment and slammed the door.

"Fuck!" Brian exclaimed, picking up his beer bottle and throwing it at the wall. "Fuck!"


	8. Chapter 8

Justin slammed the door as he stormed into the apartment. Anthony walked out of his bedroom, obvious by the way he was dressed that he was on his way out, and looked at Justin strangely. "You haven't even been gone an hour. What happened?"

"Little Mikey doesn't want Brian to see me anymore." Justin said angrily. "And now Brian wants to keep whatever the hell is going on with us a secret."

"He told you that?" 

"No. Michael came over. Brian wouldn't let him in and he lied. He said he had homework and that Daphne had her boyfriend over." Justin fumed. He was pacing the room. "Michael told him that he should go out and pick up someone so he could forget about me!"

"What did he say to that?" Anthony dropped the pair of shoes he had been carrying and led Justin over to the couch.

"He said ‘Not tonight'." Justin hissed. He had gotten himself more and more worked up during the walk back to his apartment and he was sure that he would never speak to Brian again.

"Okay." Anthony paused. "I can understand why you're angry. If I was in your position, a place I never plan on being mind you, I'd be mad too. However..."

"You're going to defend him!" Justin raged.

"Calm down, Hulk." Anthony chuckled. "Listen, turn this around, if I had asked you, or if I know Michael at all he probably demanded, so if I demanded you not see him, what would you do?"

"You'd never do that!" Justin protested.

"But if I did. Would you tell me where to stick it? Or would you wait until I was over it to tell me that I had no right to tell you who you could and couldn't be with?" Anthony knew that what he was saying would turn Justin's anger around.

"Dammit!" Justin groaned. "So I acted like an ass..."

"Not necessarily." Anthony countered. "He didn't tell you that he wanted to keep it a secret from Michael, which would have been the decent thing."

"How the hell do you know so much stuff about relationships? You've never touched a relationship!" Justin hated that Anthony was being the calm, knowing one in the situation.

"Guess I'm just enlightened." Anthony teased. When Justin smacked him in the arm, he chuckled. "I can look at this from the outside, stupid. You're pissed because shit's not perfect with Brian like it was with Jonny at first, and even with Chris in a fucked up way. Well, news flash, the ones that started perfect didn't work!"

"Why aren't you telling me to go out and trick like all the rest of the homosexuals in the world?" Justin asked. He had been waiting for Anthony to tell him to do that, ‘go out and find someone to fuck' was his answer for every problem.

"Honey, I know you too well. You're not like that. You have all that romantic shit that you learned in suburbia ingrained in you, and you haven't been jaded enough for fucking to be the answer yet." Anthony said with a shrug. "Besides, I can tell that Kinney likes you."

"How can you tell?" Justin looked vulnerable.

"Kinney is a lot like me. And the only way I would act like he acts with you is if I actually wanted more than a guy's tight ass and hard cock." Anthony grinned.

"I'm glad we're friends." Justin smiled and leaned against Anthony, who put an arm around him and pulled him close. "Still don't get why we never fucked though."

"Come on, J." Anthony pulled him closer. "If you ever wanted to, it wouldn't have been difficult to make me give in... however, that would send our friendship right into the shitter."

"I know." Justin smiled. "I think this is why you don't need a relationship. You get all the sex you want, and then you have me to come home to."

"You're probably right." Anthony said with a chuckle, but only half joking.

"You go out, I'm gonna go to bed." Justin pressed a quick kiss to Anthony's lips before disappearing into the bedroom.

"Night." Anthony said quietly before standing and retrieving his forgotten shoes.

***

"Well, don't you look miserable this morning." Daphne observed when Brian came out of his room the next morning. "At least I know you took my advice."

"Not so much." Brian grumbled, pouring himself so coffee. "We were well on our way to fucking and then Michael showed up."

"Did he throw a fit?" Daphne asked, amused.

"I didn't let him come in. I made excuses. Justin got pissed that I wanted to keep shit a secret." Brian took a big gulp of his coffee after shoving his hand through his hair.

"And...?"

"And what? He stormed out."

"And why didn't you tell him that you would inform your so-called best friend that he could either deal with it or fuck off?" Daphne couldn't believe Brian was letting Michael rule his life.

"He's my best friend, Daph."

"Yah, and he's being a jealous asshole." Daphne was happy that she finally got to say it. She had been wanting to tell Brian what she thought of Michael for a long time.

"Daph!"

"Listen to me, Brian." Daphne gestured to the chair across from her at the table. When he sat down and looked at her, she began speaking again. "Michael will get over it, he's a big boy and he has too much invested in your friendship to give it up because you don't obey his every demand. Justin, on the other hand, doesn't have ten years invested in you."

"So you're saying that I should tell Mikey to go fuck himself?"

"Exactly. I think it's time little Mikey heard it." Daphne wasn't sure if she'd gone too far, but at that point she wasn't really sure if she cared. Brian needed someone to tell him that Michael wasn't much of a friend.

"I don't want him to hate me, Daph. I don't intend to listen to him, I just want to keep it a secret for a while. I want to wait until Michael gets over the whole Anthony thing." Brian was conflicted.

"I'm just warning you that if you do this you may lose Justin entirely." Daphne sighed. "Some people just aren't okay with keeping their relationships a secret. Justin, apparently, is one of those people."

Brian pondered what Daphne was saying and thought back to what Justin told him about his first boyfriend. Justin's exact words echoed in his head "It was never really my idea to keep it a secret anyways. I wanted to tell my parents as soon as I hooked up with my first boyfriend."

"You're right. He's not the type to keep it a secret." Brian let out a sigh. "Looks like Mikey is going to be mighty pissed off with me."

"For a while. He'll get over it." Daphne reassured her roommate.

~knock, knock~

"I'll get it." Daphne chimed, walking over to the door. She hoped that it wasn't Michael, she definitely didn't want to be around for that particular scene.

"Hey, Daphne." Justin said with a smile as soon as she opened the door. "Is Brian here?"

"Yah. Come on it." Daphne smiled. It looked like things were going to be okay between her friend and the little art student. She secretly hoped that Michael still got his though. "Bri! You have company."

"Hey." Brian said quietly when he saw Justin standing there. He calmed a little when he saw that Justin was smiling.

"Hey." Justin replied. "Can we talk?"

"Yah, of course." Brian nodded. Daphne took her cue and decided that she should give them some time alone.

"I have to go study." She said as she grabbed her backpack. "Don't do anything naughty." She kissed Brian's cheek and left the apartment. 

"Uhm, do you want to come sit?" Brian asked. He wasn't sure what the conversation was going to be like, so he didn't know how to approach. Justin nodded and made his way over to the couch. "Can I get you anything?"

"Let's just talk, alright?"

"Yah, sure." Brian sat down next to him and looked him in the eye. He waited for Justin to speak first, long moments passed before Justin opened his mouth.

"I was so pissed at you last night." He chuckled. "I was fuming all the way home. I couldn't believe that after how well things were going, you'd want to keep it a secret."

"Justin..." Brian began to explain, but Justin cut him off.

"Let me finish. I went home and talked to Ant. He basically told me that I was being selfish and stupid. I realized that he was right. I shouldn't have overreacted like that. You were only trying to keep us going on without hurting Michael's feelings."

"I'll tell him to forget it." Brian said. "It's not as important as you and me."

"You don't have to." Justin said firmly. "We can keep it a secret until Michael gets over all the shit with Ant."

"How about this? I don't want to keep it a secret either. So how about we keep it a secret for two weeks, tops? If he's not over it in two weeks, he'll just have to deal with it." Brian suggested. When he thought of the idea, he thought it would prove something to Justin, but after saying the words he realized that he really didn't want to keep things a secret.

"I like that plan." Justin reached over and pressed a kiss to Brian's lips. "Could be fun to sneak around like we're doing something really naughty." Brian laughed and returned Justin's kiss, but stopped before they got too into it because he thought he should try harder to take Daphne's advice.

"Are you hungry?" He asked Justin, trying to sound casual.

"No." Justin shook his head. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Brian replied, nodding.

"Why haven't we had sex since that night after Woody's?" He asked, catching Brian off guard. He wasn't sure whether to tell the truth, it was kind of embarrassing. "Uhm, do you not want to?" The vulnerability in Justin's voice made up Brian's mind.

"No, I definitely want to. I've been holding back." He took a deep breath. "Daph said that if I wanted this to be something serious I should wait." 

"So you want this to be something serious?" Justin asked, grinning.

"Twat." Brian pinched his tummy. "What if I do?"

"I think you should take me to bed immediately." Justin said in way of an answer. He crawled onto Brian's lap and straddled him. "Please." He asked, trying to look as cute as possible.

"Are you sure? This won't ruin things?" Brian had more self control than ever and knew that if the blond said yes, his restraint would break and he'd have the other guy naked in a flash.

"I'm sure." Justin smiled softly before leaning down to capture Brian's mouth in a heart stopping kiss. Brian's hands found Justin's hips and he lifted him off the couch, never breaking the kiss. Justin wrapped his legs around Brian's waist as he was carried to the bedroom.

Brian broke the kiss for a moment as he lowered Justin to the bed. Before joining him there, he pulled his t-shirt over his head. Justin smiled and reached up to run his hand down Brian's chest, slowly exploring every inch until he reached the waist band of Brian's jeans. He quickly unbuttoned them and slid them down over his hips. 

"You're so beautiful." He whispered before placing a kiss to Brian's stomach. "I've never seen a guy who is as beautiful as you." He moved his lips down over Brian's stomach until he reached the base of Brian's cock. Being just as gentle as he had been on his stomach, Justin pressed kisses down the length of Brian's shaft.

"Oh god." Brian breathed, closing his eyes. He tangled his fingers in Justin's hair as the boy moved his mouth teasingly over his cock.

"You like that?" Justin asked seductively before capturing the head of Brian's dick in his mouth and sucking gently. When Brian cried out, he knew had his answer. 

Brian groaned as Justin pulled back. Pushing Justin farther onto the bed, Brian pulled the blond's shirt over his head and began caressing his chest. "God, you're so pale." He whispered leaning down to run his tongue along Justin's collar bone. "You have no idea how hard it's been for me to hold back from you."

"No need to hold back now." Justin assured him, pulling Brian's mouth to his own. They lost themselves in the kiss and continued exploring each other's bodies. Brian rolled onto his back and pulled Justin on top of him, reaching down to cup his ass.

"I need to feel you." He mumbled against Justin's lips. Justin stood and quickly removed the rest of his clothes, returning to the bed and to Brian as soon as he was naked. Brian pushed Justin down onto his back and climbed on top of him. Justin immediately slipped his legs around Brian's waist and pulled him down to kiss him.

"I want you inside me, Brian. We can take it slow later. Right now, I just need you inside me." Justin panted. Brian was happy to oblige.

Brian reached over and grabbed a tube of lube and prepared Justin quickly. Confident that he was ready, Brian positioned himself at Justin's entrance and pushed gently. Both young men moaned as they were joined. 

"God! Brian!" Justin exclaimed. 

As Brian started moving inside his lover slowly, Justin pushed back against him and they soon found the perfect rhythm. They moved together, growing more and more lost in each other. Brian grasped Justin's hips in one final deep thrust before exploding inside the younger man. Feeling Brian's climax, Justin let his own wash over him, covering his belly in his cum.

Both men, spent, collapsed onto the bed. Brian grabbed a towel and gently wiped Justin's stomach before pulling him near and closing his eyes. He was in heaven. Justin snuggled closer to him and sighed.

"Are you okay?" Brian asked, opening his eyes.

"That was amazing, Brian. I've never felt so alive." Justin smiled brightly. "How do you do this to me?"

"Must be meant." Brian smiled and pressed a kiss to the back of Justin's neck. "It was amazing for me too."


	9. Chapter 9

"It’s great to be able to hang out, just the two of us, again." Michael said, taking a sip of his beer. "I’m glad that Anthony and Justin are out of our lives. Now we can hang out like we used to."

"Yeah, sure." Brian rolled his eyes. The only reason he was sitting at the bar in Woody’s instead of spending time with Justin was because Michael had practically begged, saying that it had been days since they had seen each other. It was true. Brian had been making excuses all week to avoid seeing Michael in favor of spending time with Justin. When he apologized for making plans with his best friend, Justin just laughed and told him to come over as soon as he could get away from Michael.

"I did miss this while I was with Anthony." Michael smiled. "It feels like old times again." 

"Mikey, you only dated Anthony, if that’s what it was, for like 4 days!" Brian laughed. "How did you have time to miss this?"

"It seemed like a lifetime." Michael said dramatically. 

"Right." Brian shook his head and wondered how long it would be necessary for him to stay in order to keep Michael off his ass for a few days.

"Anyways, those two were trouble." Michael ordered another beer and Brian groaned inwardly, thinking he’d have to stay for at least one more beer. "I’m glad you listened to me about Justin."

"Why do you care, Michael? Why is it so important to you that I not see him anymore?" Brian asked. He wasn’t sure whether he really wanted to hear Michael’s answer, sure that he would bad mouth Justin, but he braced himself to hear it.

"He’s a manipulator, Brian. He’s just like Anthony." Michael whined. "Don’t tell me you still want him! You’ve already had him!"

"What if I do want him?" Brian countered. “What’s it to you?”

"Then I’m doing you a favor by telling you now that he’s bad for you." Michael replied firmly. "It’s better this way, I promise."

"So you don’t care that he might just make me happy?" 

"How would he make you happy? What makes you happy is to fuck everything that moves." Michael sounded so sure of himself. "In the end, you’ll see that."

Brian couldn’t believe that the person he thought knew him better than anyone else, the person who he’d let everything out to, knew nothing about him at all. He wanted to scream at him that Justin was exactly what he needed, exactly what got rid of the emptiness. Instead, he stared hard into his beer bottle. He knew that if he looked up at Michael he would lost his composure, so he kept his eyes trained down.

"Do you really want another Jamie?" Michael asked.

Brian turned and stared hard at his friend in disbelief. "Listen, Mikey, I have to get going. I still have a ton of stuff to finish up for school this week."

"Since when has school taken up so much time?" Michael asked angrily.

"Since I’m graduating in a few months and I want to be able to get a killer job when I’m done. I don’t want to be working at the store forever." Brian felt anger boiling on the surface and needed to get away from Michael before he exploded.

"Can we hang out tomorrow?" Michael whined.

"Fine. I’ll pick you up from work and we can go to the diner for dinner. But I’ll have a lot of things to do tomorrow night too, so no partying." Brian didn’t like lying to his friend, but reminded himself that Michael brought it on himself. 

"Ok." Michael still didn’t seem impressed, but agreed. "See you at five then?"

"Yah, five." Brian said. He leaned down and kissed Michael on the cheek, only because it had become habit, and walked swiftly out of the bar. He was anxious to get over to Justin’s apartment and forget all about the beginning of the evening.

*** 

Anthony walked into the apartment and found Justin sitting at the kitchen table sketching. "Hey, J." He walked over and kissed the top of Justin’s head. "Where’s loverboy?"

"He’s out with Michael." Justin replied looking up from his sketch. "He’ll be over later. You going out tonight?"

"Want the place to yourself so you and Kinney can satisfy your carnal desires?" Anthony teased. Ever since Brian and Justin had started spending almost every day together, Anthony had teased his friend mercilessly. He could see that it was making his friend happy, and he translated a little bit of jealousy into teasing.

"What if we do? You can’t be the only one getting laid on a regular basis, you know." Justin chuckled and took a gulp of the glass of milk on the table.

"Maybe I should stick around and watch... bet it’s hot..." Anthony grabbed a Coke out of the fridge and sat down across from Justin. 

"You just want a shot at seeing Brian naked." Justin raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe I just want to see you naked?" Anthony kept his tone light and teasing even though he was starting to think about Justin in a sexual way more and more.

"Well, why didn’t you tell me that before Brian?" Justin laughed. "If you had, we’d be fucking right now."

"Well, dammit." Anthony laughed. "Now that you’re practically a married man, my chance is lost." He told himself that the entire conversation was entirely teasing, but decided to change the subject because talking about fucking Justin was getting to him. "So, are you and Brian still keeping things a secret?”

Justin nodded. "One more week and then we’re putting it out in the open."

"How’s that going for you?"

"I donno." Justin shrugged. "I wish he and I could go out dancing and out for dinner and stuff instead of spending every night in, but soon we can do those things. I feel like I’ve really gotten to know him."

"Falling in love?"

"I think so." Justin laughed. "Maybe I’ve been falling in love with him since that first night, when me and Jonny broke up."

"I hope Michael gets a clue and lets you two do your thing." Anthony said. "You deserve a chance, J."

"Thanks, Ant." Justin reached over and hugged his friend. "I love you, Ant."

"Love you too, J." Anthony hugged Justin back. "If Kinney hurts you, I’ll beat him up." 

~Knock, Knock~

"I’ll get it!" Justin pulled out of the embrace with Anthony and hurried to the door. He swung it open and launched himself into Brian’s arms. "Hey, baby."

"Miss me?" Brian asked, smiling. Seeing Justin washed away all the anger he had been feeling towards Michael.

"Of course." Justin smiled, taking Brian’s hand and leading him into the apartment. "Me and Ant were just hanging out."

"Hey, Anthony." Brian said with a grin. "Not trying to steal my boyfriend, are you?"

"Always!" Anthony chuckled. He honestly liked Brian. "If I could steal him from you, you’d be gone by now." 

"Well, then, I guess I’d better sweep him off his feet on a regular basis so you never get a chance to swoop in and take him from me." Brian turned to Justin and grinned mischievously. Suddenly he grabbed Justin by the waist and lifted him into his arms. As he made his way towards the bedroom he said, "Goodnight, Anthony!"

"Night, Ant." Justin laughed.

"Have fun, you two." Anthony said with a laugh as Brian and Justin disappeared into Justin’s room and closed the door.

Brian dropped Justin on the bed and dived in next to him. Justin laughed and snuggled up to Brian. "Soooo, whatcha wanna do?" Justin asked.

"Will you show me your art?" Brian asked. He had been curious about seeing Justin’s art, other than the things on the bedroom wall, but hadn’t wanted to ask.

"You really want to see it?" Justin was surprised. 

"Of course I wanna see it. When you’re not with me, you spend all your time on your art. I think I should see the other important thing in your life." Brian teased. 

"On one condition." Justin challenged.

"Anything for you. Especially if you want sexual favors." Brian grinned. 

"I want you to pose for me?" Justin asked cautiously. He didn’t think Brian would want to, but he had been sketching him since the night they met and wanted desperately to do a portrait of Brian.

"Nude?" Brian asked raising an eyebrow, grinning.

"Probably not." Justin grinned, pinching Brian’s side. "With you lying in front of me naked, looking all sexy, I don’t think I’d be able to concentrate. The painting would look like a first grader did it."

"Aww, cute! I could put it on my fridge!" Brian teased. "I’ll pose for you, full clothed, as long as you show me some of your art."

"Deal." Justin stuck out his hand to shake on it, but Brian had other ideas.

"Seal it with a kiss." He said, pulling Justin closer to him and pressing his lips to the blond’s firmly.

"Mmmm... Much better than shaking on it." Justin smiled after the kiss was over and then got up and grabbed his large leather portfolio. "This is the stuff I’ve been working on lately, and the stuff that I’m submitting to the Spring Art Show."

"Ok." Brian smiled and sat up, crossing his legs underneath him.

Justin pulled out a painting that looked like a silhouette of two men under a street lamp with fog pooling around their ankles. "This is one of my favorite paintings ever. I did it when I was seventeen."

"This is beautiful." Brian was amazed at the skill Justin possessed. "I’m so glad I asked to see your art."

"Yah?" Justin asked.

"Yah. Now I know I’ll have a rich, famous artist to grow old with." Brian grinned playfully and Justin   
felt his heart swell. When he first met Brian he hadn’t expected to find a playful side, but now was pleasantly surprised when he did.

"Hey, maybe we could start our own business, a marketing company. You could do all the business and the ideas, and I could be the artist." Justin smiled as he returned the first painting to his portfolio and pulled out another one.

"Never know." Brian grinned. "Now, let the art show continue." He enjoyed his time with Justin and surprised himself by wanting more than just sex. He liked just hanging out and spending time with Justin just as much.

"Ok." Justin looked at the next painting for a minute before turning it around to show Brian. The painting was of a woman’s hand holding the hand of a small child. Justin loved this painting because he did it when his mom finally accepted the fact that he was gay.

"Talk to me." Brian said softly.

"What?" Justin asked, confused.

"This one means something to you. What is it?" 

"My mom. Last year, when I introduced her to Jonny for the first time she finally told me that no matter who I choose to be with and who I love, she loves me." Justin felt a little choked up. "I came home and I painted this."

"It’s beautiful, Justin." Brian said. "Even more so because it’s so important to you." Deciding that since the little art showing was meant to be fun, Brian decided to lighten the mood. "Any drawings of my dick?" Justin blushed. "There are!"

Justin reached under the bed and pulled out his sketchbook. It was a beautiful, leather bound sketch book that he kept mostly private. There were sketches of Anthony, Lindsay, Jonny, Chris, and the most recent ones were of Brian. Justin opened the book to where the sketches of Brian started and handed it to his boyfriend.

"These are from the last couple of weeks." Justin said, blushing. 

Brian looked through the photos and was stunned. Justin drew him beautifully. The first sketches were of him the night of the party. Brian recognized the background. The next pictures were of himself and Justin playing pool, both looking flirty. After that, there were pictures of two forms entwined on a bed and he knew that it was himself and Justin. 

Brian was a little surprised at how much feeling showed through the pictures. It made him realize that   
the first night they spent with each other had meant a lot to him. He kept turning the pages. There were drawings of him sleeping, smiling, eating... Brian was amazed. 

"Justin, these are..." Brian paused, searching for the right word. "They’re amazing. I can’t believe this is how you see me. They’re beautiful."

"That’s because they’re of you." Justin smiled. 

"Can I look at the ones before these?" Brian asked, curious to know what else was in the little private sketch book Justin kept under the bed. When Justin hesitated it made Brian even more curious.

"There are pictures of Chris and Jonny in there." Justin warned. "But you can look if you want." Brian smiled and began paging backwards in the book. 

The first picture which wasn’t of him that he found was of Anthony with a big lopsided grin on his face. The next picture was of Lindsay, a thought bubble above her head with a stick figure with a mass of curly hair in it. "Is this Daphne?" Brian chuckled. Justin laughed too.

"Yah. I didn’t know what she looked like except that she had curly hair." He grinned. "Lindsay was all about Daphne til she met Melanie."

"Melanie? New girlfriend?" Brian asked, not really interested.

"Yup. Her English tutor." He tried to imitate Lindsay. "Melanie Marcuss is so beautiful! She has beautiful long hair and a gorgeous body! She’s so smart! She doesn’t want to fuck, she wants to make love!" When Justin stopped, Brian was laughing hysterically. 

"I don’t know Lindsay very well, but from what I know that sounds pretty accurate." He said through his laughter.

"She tends to get a little teeny boppery when she has a crush." Justin grinned. 

"Is that how she was about Daph?" Justin nodded.

"Don’t tell her! Lindsay would kill me if she found out that I told you. You definitely can’t tell Daph." Justin was still chuckling and didn’t sound very threatening. 

"No worries, Sunshine." Brian continued to look through the book. When he saw a drawing of an attractive male face, he took pause. When he saw underneath that it said "Jonny" he felt awful. Justin saw the change in Brian’s demeanor.

"You don’t have to look at the ones of my ex’s." Justin said self consciously. When Brian didn’t respond, Justin looked at him more closely. "You fucked him." It wasn’t a question.

"Justin, I didn’t know..." Brian felt like shit.

"Doesn’t matter." Justin reached out and took Brian’s hand. "I know you’ve been with a lot of guys, I   
mean you almost slept with my best friend. Let’s just leave the past in the past, ok?" Brian nodded. He continued to page through the drawings and by the end, he felt like he knew more about Justin than he could have found out any other way.

"You’re an amazing artist, Justin." He said sincerely, looking Justin in the eyes. 

"Thank you." Justin smiled.

"I don’t get why you need me to pose though." Brian grinned. "You have sketches of me in every mood, at every angle."

"No pulling out of our deal." Justin warned. 

"Hell, no. We sealed it with a kiss, remember?" Brian helped Justin put his art away and they cuddled up on the bed. "Want to watch a movie?"

"A cartoon?" Justin asked, eyes lighting up.

"Which one?" Brian asked curiously.

"Hercules!" Justin exclaimed, jumping from the bed. He pulled the video out of the cabinet under the TV stand. "I’ve seen it a million times, it’s my favorite." 

"Well, then, I suppose that’s the one we should watch." Brian smiled as Justin popped the DVD into the machine and climbed back onto the bed. The stayed cuddled together for the entire movie and Brian didn’t think he’d ever been more content. 

After the movie was over, Justin rolled over to face Brian. "Want to stay the night?" He asked. Brian smiled and kissed the tip of Justin’s nose.

"You’re not getting rid of me til tomorrow." Brian smiled.

Once they were undressed, they climbed into bed together. They kissed for a while and held each other, but they stopped and just cuddled close. Both of them were exhausted so they communicated without words that they should just go to sleep. Justin turned off the light, cuddled back up against Brian and they fell asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

Brian smiled as he woke up, Justin was snuggled close to him still fast asleep. When Brian caught site of the clock he realized he would have to get going right away if he was going to make it to class on time. Seeing that Justin was in such a deep sleep, Brian decided not to wake him. He knew that the alarm would get Justin up in tons of time for him to get to class.

Brian dressed quickly and grabbed a piece of paper off Justin's desk. "Hey Baby, you look so cute sleeping that I couldn't bear to wake you up." He wrote. "But I'll see you tonight after the obligatory dinner with Mikey. I expect you to miss me!! Heart, B."

With a quick kiss to the top of Justin's head, Brian headed out of the bedroom. He found Anthony sitting at the table looking down at a text book and munching on some toast. Brian was amused when he saw that Ant was wearing glasses. "Morning." Brian said. 

"Hey." Anthony looked up from his book. "You leavin?"

"Yah, I have to get to class." Brian replied. "I hate 7am classes. What are you doing up?"

"Studying." Anthony shrugged. "I have a midterm next week. I usually study early in the mornings." 

"Good plan. You don't have to worry about noise." Brian grabbed his shoes. 

"Can I ask you something, Brian?" Anthony looked a little nervous.

"Shoot." Brian replied, sitting down at the table to put his shoes on.

"What are you doing with Justin? Do you really want him? Or is this just a temporary thing?" Anthony felt an incredible urge to protect Justin from getting hurt again and he wanted to make sure that Brian was on the level.

"Are you serious? Are you his father now?" Brian asked, somewhat amused.

"I care about him more than his father does." Anthony said. "I don't want you to game him."

"I'm not, Ant." Brian said, completely seriously. 

"Good. Me and you are okay, then." Anthony grinned. "Now get out of my apartment and get your ass to school so you can get a good job and support Justin while he's doing the starving artist thing." He teased. 

"See you later." Brian said with a smile, moving towards the door.

"Later, Bri." Anthony said before going back to studying.

***

Brian stepped quietly into his apartment. He didn't want to get into a discussion about his spending another night at Justin's apartment with Daphne, so he tried not to wake her.

"Morning, Loverboy." Daphne said from the kitchen table. She was looking through the newspaper and drinking a mug of coffee.

"What the hell are you doing up?" He asked, nearly having jumped from his skin at hearing Daphne's voice.

"I have a workshop this morning." She told him. "Starts at eight. Plus, I knew you had class at seven and I wanted to hear all about your night with Justin." Brian rolled his eyes.

"You badly need to get your own life, Daph." He chuckled. "You keep living vicariously through me." Daphne laughed along with him.

"You're not getting out of telling me, Kinney, so spill." Daphne stood and grabbed another mug from the cabinet to pour Brian some coffee.

"Well, it started out as the night from hell... I met Mikey at Woody's and it seems like all he did was bad mouth Justin, and then he compared Justin with Jamie." He saw the shocked look come onto Daphne's face. "I had to get out of there."

"Who the hell does Michael think he is?" Daphne raged. "I don't know why you even want him around."

"Daph." Brian said warningly. He didn't want another friend who bad mouthed someone he cared about, even if he was mad at that someone at the moment.

"Fine. Get on with the story. I want to hear about Justin."

"Do you have a crush on my boyfriend?" Brian teased. When Daphne smacked him in the arm he chuckled. "Well, I went over there and he showed me some of his art."

"Is he any good?"

"He's amazing, Daph. He showed me some drawings he's done of me... they were amazing." Brian thought back to all the drawings in Justin's leather bound sketchbook. "I saw of picture of his ex."

"Hot?"

"I fucked him a few months ago... back room at Babylon." Brian still felt horrible about being one of the guys that Jonny cheated on Justin with.

"Fuck... Did Justin freak?" Daphne asked.

"No. He said that he knows that I've been with a lot of guys and that it's all in the past." Brian relayed. "But I still feel like shit about it."

"Well, if Justin says that he understands, then I'd leave it alone if I were you." Daphne said. "So... how was the sex?"

"If you really must know, we didn't fuck last night. We watched a movie and then went to sleep." Brian almost wanted to lie and tell her that he and Justin had mind blowing sex all night so that she wouldn't see his softer side.

"Awwww..." Daphne gushed. "Could you be any cuter!?!"

"On that note, I have to shower and get to class. I'll leave you here to gush." Brian finished off his coffee and disappeared into the bathroom.

***

Justin woke up and knew immediately that he was alone in the bed. He rolled over to look at the side of the bed that had become "Brian's side" in the nights he had spent there. He noticed a piece of paper on the pillow and picked it up. After reading it, he smiled and stretched out. 

"Hey, J." Anthony said, coming into his room with a hot cup of coffee. "Time to get up or you'll be late for class."

"Thanks, dear." Justin smiled. "Brian left me a note."

"Aww!" Anthony rolled his eyes. "How insanely boyfriendy."

"Wow, Ant, another word to add to Anthony's Dictionary of made up words." Justin rolled out of bed and pulled a t-shirt over his head. "He called me baby and signed it heart B."

"God, you two are so fucking hetero!"

"Stop being so cynical, Ant." Justin laughed. "Now, I gotta shower and get ready for class because I have a big project to hand in this morning."

"Luck!"

"Thanks!" Justin grinned as he made his way to the bathroom. He wished he could start everyday so happily. 

After Justin was finished in the shower, he dressed in a pair of faded jeans that had splatters of paint all over them, a t-shirt, and a sweater. He figured he would be in the studio for most of the afternoon and didn't want to have to come back to the apartment before making his way there. At the last minute, Justin decided to leave a message on Brian's machine to put him in a better mood before going out with Michael. 

***

"You didn't have to meet me on campus." Brian said as he and Michael walked up to his apartment. "I told you I'd meet you at five. I wanted to come home and shower first."

"I got off work early and I knew you were out of class at four." Michael said with a smile. "It's no big deal. I'll wait while you shower."

"Fine." Brian grumbled. He opened the door to his apartment and stepped inside. He hoped there weren't any telltale signs that Justin had been there just a couple of nights before. Seeing none, he let Michael in. 

"You sure you don't want to come out dancing after we eat? It'll be fun!" Michael got that whining tone in his voice. Brian saw the message light blinking on his machine and played it, hoping that it would get Michael to shut up for a few seconds.

"Hey, Bri. Your stunningly gorgeous roommate here. I'm studying at the library tonight and then staying at Tiernan's. See you in the morning!" Beep.

"Hey, Bri. Me again. Remember, you have the place to yourself tonight. Do something naughty! Bye, babes." Beep.

"Hey babe, it's Justin. Hope you didn't think it was one of the other boyfriends I'm sure you have hidden from me. *giggle* I got the note you left on my pillow when you slipped out of my bed in the wee hours. You're turning out to be a little romantic, arentcha? Well, I'll see you tonight. Eat fast! I don't want to share you with Michael. Byebyes." Beep.

Brian, who had been standing stalk still for the duration of the message, slowly turned and looked at Michael who looked absolutely livid. He braced himself for what was about to come. He knew he was in trouble when Michael didn't start yelling at him immediately. Brian watched as his friend's face got red and his eyes bugged out from his head.

"Boyfriend!" Michael suddenly exploded. "You've been lying to me this whole time?" Brian said nothing. "You weren't busy with school at all were you? You just wanted to spend time with your little boy toy instead of me!"

"Don't call him that." Brian ground out.

"What!?" 

"Don't call him my boy toy." Brian replied firmly. "He's my boyfriend, ok?"

"No! Not okay! I told you not to see him anymore! I told you he was bad for you! I told you that he was going to hurt you just like Ja..." Michael was interrupted by an equally livid Brian.

"Don't say his name. Don't you ever compare him to Justin." Brian took a deep breath and decided to let out all the things that he had been waiting to say to his "friend". "Why did you expect me to do or believe any of the things you told me? I'm a big boy and I can decide for myself."

"Obviously my opinion doesn't matter to you at all!" Michael looked like he was about to burst out sobbing.

"Not when it pertains to something you know nothing about." Brian shook his head. "You're pissed off because Anthony hurt you. Well, you know what? I tried to warn you about him a few times. You shrugged it off. And now, now you're trying to sabotage my relationship because you're miserable. And you have this burning hatred for Justin because's he's friends with Ant."

"Ant?" Michael got a look of distaste on his face.

"Yah, Ant." Brian nodded firmly. "He and I have become sort of friends too."

"I can't believe you would do this to me!" Michael wailed. "You know exactly what he did to me and you're friends with him now."

"Michael, you should know how the game works by now." Brian shook his head in disgust.

"Are you playing Justin?" He asked, looking hopeful.

"No, I'm not playing Justin." Brian said firmly. "Listen, Michael, whatever is going on with Justin is entirely MY business. It has nothing to do with you and I suggest you stay out of it."

"You want me out of your life? Fine. I'm out. But when Justin fucks you over the same way Jamie did," Michael put emphasis on Brian's ex's name, "don't come whining to me."

"Fuck you, Michael." Brian shook his head and turned from his friend. "Get out of here. You make me sick."

"I hate you." Michael seemed to start crying as he rushed to the door, hurried outside, and slammed it. 

Brian couldn't believe that everything had gotten so fucked up. He thought back to before he knew Justin, when life was easy. He and Michael would go out on the town, he would meet someone and either fuck him in the backroom or take him home and fuck him there, and then he would go to sleep. Next night, same thing. Now, with Justin in his life, things were different. He had an actual boyfriend. Brian shook his head. "I don't want to deal with this right now." He said, heading for the shower. 

***

"Hey, J. Where's Loverboy?" Anthony asked as he walked out of his room, dressed for Babylon. "Didn't you say he was coming over right after dinner with whiney little Mikey?"

"He was supposed to." Justin said sadly. "But he said he was picking Michael up at five. He said he'd be here by 7:30 at the latest."

"So... what you're saying is that lover boy is like two hours late then?" Anthony said looking at his watch. Justin nodded. "It's settled then."

"What's settled?" Justin asked, looking up at his friend.

"We're going to Babylon." Anthony grinned. "We're gunna dance and drink and act depraved. I'm gunna find some little hottie and fuck him. You're gunna get your mind off being stood up and have a good time."

"But what if Brian's just running late? What if he comes here and I'm not here?" Justin asked. He really wanted to see Brian that night and wasn't opposed to making a fool of himself by waiting.

"Honey, after two hours of waiting, he can't expect you to still be sitting here. Come on, go put on something a little tighter so that every guy there knows that I walked in with the hottest guy in the place and let's get going." Anthony was trying to put on a happy face while he worried about what Brian was doing. He hoped that something had just come up and Brian wasn't out doing something... or someone... that was going to hurt Justin.

"Fine." Justin grumbled before standing and walking into his bedroom, a slight slump to his shoulders. "But if he comes here and I miss him, I'm blaming you."

"Blame him!" Anthony called. "He's the one who stood you up!"

"Must you phrase it that way?" Justin asked walking out of his room wearing the same jeans but a tight black jersey instead of the baggy sweater he had been wearing before.

"Ooh, hottie, you're going to turn some heads tonight." Anthony let out a low whistle. "I'm totally gunna be walking in there with the hottest guy in the club."

"It's going to help you get laid, isn't it?" Justin asked, laughing softly. Anthony didn't care too much about his image. As long as he got laid, Anthony didn't care what people thought of him.

"Hell yes, baby. When I'm seen with you, I'm going to have hoards of them flocking to me as soon as I leave your side." Anthony grinned. "I hope you're not averse to driving while I'm getting a blowjob in the back seat."

"Wouldn't be the first time." Justin chuckled. 

***

Brian leaned on the railing and looked out over the dance floor. Just like every night at Babylon, there were hundreds of sweaty male bodies packed into the club and they were all looking to fuck and be fucked. Brian was on his way to a very bad hangover, but at that point he didn't care. During the three hours spent drinking in Woody's before venturing over to Babylon, he had become philosophical, spouting his drunken truth to anyone who would listen.

"Love is for losers! Everyone leaves! In the end, you get fucked harder than you ever do in the actual relationship." He'd spouted to the drag queen sitting on the barstool next to him, listening with amusement. "It's funny. I made this rule that I would never fuck my best friend. In the end, he fucked me!"

"Darlin'," the drag queen had said with concern, "maybe you ought to get someone to drive you home."

"Home? It's still early. Time for Babylon!" Brian had fallen down three times just getting himself out of Woody's, but he wasn't too concerned. The alcohol had clouded the thoughts that had been bothering him and that was all that mattered.

Since Michael had stormed out of the apartment earlier, Brian had been plagued with doubts about his relationship with Justin. Was Michael right? In the end would Justin hurt him the way Jamie did? Had he lost his best friend over a guy that he would lose in the end anyways?

So now, standing at the railing above the dance floor at Babylon, Brian had only one thing on his mind: Find the hottest guy in the club and fuck him. Somewhere between the case of beer he drank and the tequila shooters, Brian had forgotten that he had Justin waiting for him, trusting him.

Brian spotted a tall, Hispanic guy in a tight wife beater on the dance floor, sparkles that had fallen on his skin making him seem to glow. Making his way down the stairs, Brian slowly moved in on his prey. It was a dance he had taken the time to perfect and it assured him that he would have any guy he wanted.

***

"Ahhh, Babylon." Anthony said with a big smile on his face as he and Justin walked inside the club. Justin still wasn't much in the mood for partying, but Anthony was determined to change that. He didn't want to see Justin wallowing over Kinney. "Shall we get you a drink, princess?"

"Sure." Justin nodded and Anthony flung his arm around Justin's shoulders, leading him to the bar. As much as Anthony wanted Justin to have a good time, he was feeling protective because Justin was vulnerable after being stood up.

"I'll have a double Beam on the rocks." Anthony ordered. "And my friend here will have something fruity with a little umbrella in it." Making sure Justin wasn't looking he mouthed the word "Virgin". The bartender nodded and set about making their drinks.

"Ant!" Justin laughed. "I don't drink those! Fruity umbrella drinks are for queens!"

"Well, darlin, tonight you're drinking the umbrella drinks." Anthony chuckled. "I need you in tip top form to drive my drunken ass home."

"And these aren't going to get me drunk?" Justin asked.

"Nope." He didn't want to tell Justin that there wasn't going to be any alcohol in his drinks, so he just nodded mischievously. The bartender handed them their drinks and Anthony paid. 

"Wanna dance?" Justin asked. He loved dancing and always had fun when he and Anthony danced together. They made their way to the dance floor, drinks in hand, and started dancing very suggestively with each other. "Ant, people are starting to stare." Justin blushed.

"Well, we are the hottest guys here." Anthony grinned and looked around the dance floor. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Brian and looked closer. When he realized that Brian was leading the attractive Hispanic guy towards the back room by his shirt, he wanted to go over and hit Brian. "J, I found your boyfriend." Anthony regretted that he had to say the words, but felt that his friend deserved to know.

Justin followed Anthony's line of sight and was shocked. He saw Brian and some strange guy walking towards the backroom together, there was no question of what was about to happen. Justin broke away from Anthony and followed Brian. By the time he got there, Brian was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed as the other guy blew him.

"Fuck." Justin felt like the walls were closing in on him and he needed to get out. When he exited the backroom, Anthony was there waiting for him. "Take me home." Justin begged.

"Come on." Anthony wrapped his arm around Justin and they made their way to the exit. Anthony was fuming mad, but knew that he had to be there for Justin at that moment as opposed to going back into the club and ruining Brian's pretty face.

Justin was silent and completely still during the drive home, obviously lost in thought. When they arrived at their building, they got out of the car and Anthony took Justin's hand. Justin was still trying to process what he had seen. Had he really seen the guy he spent the previous night cuddled up to getting his dick sucked in the back room?

"Want to talk?" Anthony offered once they were in the apartment.

Justin shook his head. "Nothing really to say right now." He looked up at Anthony. "Will you sleep in my bed tonight? I don't want to be by myself."

"Of course." Anthony nodded. "I'll go change and see you in your room." Justin smiled slightly and went into his bedroom. He undressed quickly and climbed into bed, still in complete shock as to what had happened with Brian. When Anthony returned he was wearing a pair of baggy plaid pajama pants and a white wife beater. 

"Thanks." Justin said after the lights were out and the two of them were lying in his bed. "I'm really glad you were there tonight."

"Anytime, Princess. Now, go to sleep." Anthony pressed a soft kiss to Justin's forehead before rolling over and pretending to sleep...


	11. Chapter 11

Brian woke up, a pounding headache making it hard to even open his eyes. He rolled over and looked at the clock. It was noon. Brian groaned and rolled himself out of bed, intent on going over to Justin's and apologizing for standing him up the previous night. 

Dressed and as ready to leave the apartment as he was going to get, Brian stepped out of his room. Daphne and Tiernan were cuddled up on the couch watching TV. Brian wasn't looking forward to having to admit to Daphne what he had done.

"Well, good morning, Sunshine." Daphne laughed seeing her friend looking thoroughly like shit. "Little Justin must have kept you up until the wee hours." Brian looked guilty immediately and Daphne was off the couch like a shot. "What the hell did you do?"

"Mikey found out." Brian breathed. "He freaked. We had words. I went to Babylon." He decided that he should tell Daphne everything so that she could tell him what to say to Justin. "And I got my dick sucked. Justin doesn't know where I was. I stood him up."

"What the fuck were you thinking?"

"I wasn't. I didn't want to." Brian admitted, starting to get a little defensive. "I'm pretty sure things are perma-fucked with my best friend. I didn't want to think about how messed up things have gotten."

"So you decided that the best course of action would be to fuck things up with Justin too?" Daphne exploded.

"I'm not going to tell him that I went into the backroom." Brian reasoned.

"I can't believe you're telling me that you think it's okay to cheat on him as long as he doesn't find out." Daphne huffed. "Right about now, I'm ashamed to call you my friend."

"Fuck you, Daph. You don't know shit." Brian hissed, feeling the sting of her words. As she stood shocked, Brian grabbed his coat and walked out of the apartment.

*** 

Justin woke to the sound of knocking on the door to their apartment. At some point during the night he and Anthony ended up cuddled up together. Anthony groaned at the sound of the knocking. He wanted to go back to sleep. 

"Ant? Can you get it?" Justin asked. He feared that it was Brian and he knew that he wouldn't know what to say, wouldn't know how to articulate what he was feeling. 

"Of course, babe." Anthony said. He had enjoyed waking up with Justin and regretted having to leave the bed. He knew, of course, that Justin wasn't feeling the same way. Damn Kinney, he thought to himself . It had been much easier to ignore the new feelings he was developing for Justin when his friend was with the other guy. Anthony had honestly liked Kinney and had hoped that he would make Justin happy.

Brian was standing on the other side of the door when Anthony opened it. "What the fuck do you want, Kinney?" Anthony said, glaring at Brian.

"Is Justin here?"

"He doesn't want to see you right now." Anthony replied angrily. "Actually, I kinda doubt he ever wants to see you again."

"Because I stood him up?" Brian asked, surprised that Justin would be that upset about being stood up. "Come on, let me just explain to him."

"You think he would be that mad at being stood up." Anthony laughed sardonically. "After he had been waiting for you for two hours, I told him to come out to Babylon with me." Brian paled. "Can u guess what he saw?"

Brian looked broken hearted, vulnerable. The previous night he'd had doubts about his relationship with Justin, but somewhere in between the blow job in the backroom and the morning he had realized that Michael was just manipulating him again. He realized there was nothing to fear from Justin.

"Tell him I'm sorry." Brian said hoarsely, unable to think of anything else to say. He knew that he fucked up and was certain that Justin wouldn't forgive him for that one.

After closing the door, Anthony walked back to the bedroom. Justin was sitting on the bed looking at him anxiously and Anthony hated that he had to tell Justin what had happened with Brian. "He said that he's sorry." 

"That's all?"

"I think he gave up." Anthony said honestly. "When I told him that we saw him, he got all pale and looked really upset. And then he said to tell you he was sorry and he left." Anthony sat down on the bed, knowing that Justin would need support.

"I didn't mean anything to him." Justin whimpered. 

"Honestly, J, I think you did and still do. You're so amazing, any guy would be lucky to have you." Anthony wrapped his arms around Justin and hugged him close. "If Brian doesn't realize how awesome you are, then he doesn't deserve you."

"I don't deserve you." Justin said, looking up at Anthony with wide eyes. Things changed in a matter of moments. Soon, Justin's lips were on Anthony's with an urgency that Anthony hadn't expected. 

In mere moments they were tangled in each other's arms. Justin pulled Anthony against him, desperate to feel something other than the pain of what had happened with Brian. Anthony pushed Justin onto his back and was soon pressed on top of him. 

Justin slid his hands under Anthony's shirt and pulled it over his head. "Fuck, you're gorgeous." He said breathlessly. "Why didn't this happen before?"

Justin's words brought Anthony back to reality and he pushed Justin away roughly. "We can't do this, J." He said, regretting that he had to stop what was happening.

"Why?" Justin asked moving back towards his friend, a seductive look on his face.

"Because you don't want me." 

"I do want you." Justin insisted, wrapping his arms around Anthony's neck and trying to kiss him again. Anthony resisted and climbed off the bed. 

"No, you don't. You want someone to help you forget Brian." Anthony pushed his hand through his hair. "I can't be that guy."

"Even you don't want me." Justin said sadly. "All those times you talked about how hot I was... it was all bullshit, wasn't it?"

"No." Anthony said sadly. "Unfortunately for me, it was completely true." He took a deep breath. "But you want to be with Brian. If you forgive him and get back together, where is that going to leave me?"

"What are you saying, Ant?" Justin asked, a little fearful that the answer would change things permanently.

"I'm saying that the only person I would give up tricking and all the other shit for is you. If I had a shot with you, it would change everything." Anthony admitted. 

Justin didn't know what to say. He hadn't considered that Anthony actually had feelings for him. When he'd tried to seduce him, he thought that Anthony would comfort him and then things would be just like they always were.

"I shouldn't have told you." Anthony shook his head and left the room.

Justin stayed sitting on the bed and considered what Anthony's admission meant for their relationship. He worried that Anthony's feelings for him being out in the open would ruin the closeness that they had and the thought of that terrified him. He didn't think he'd be able to get through things if he didn't have Anthony in his life. That thought made him wonder about his own feelings for his best friend.

~knock, knock~ 

Hearing the knock, Justin stepped out of his room and went to answer it. He had heard Anthony's bedroom door close and knew that his friend wasn't going to get up to open the door. He peaked out the peep hole and saw Brian standing there. He was thrown off and took a moment to get his composure back before opening the door.

"Hey." Brian said, looking as though his only hope would be that Justin wouldn't slam the door in his face.

"Hey." Justin replied. They stood there for several moments in silence before Justin opened the door a little wider to let Brian in. "You came back."

"I wanted to explain what happened." Brian's voice came out hoarse.

"Come in my room." Justin said quietly. He wasn't so sure he wanted Anthony to hear their conversation. He felt like he was in a whirlwind and wasn't sure he was prepared to hear what Brian had to say, but he felt like letting him at least explain would be the mature thing to do.

Once they were in Justin's room, the door shut firmly, Brian began to speak. "Mikey found out last night. He met me at school and we went back to the apartment so I could shower and change for dinner." Brian paused. "He heard your message."

"And?" Justin wasn't sure where Brian was going.

"I don't know if he'll get over this one." Brian looked like he was going to cry. "He said that he hates me."

"Why did you go to Babylon after this happened? Why couldn't you come talk to me?" Justin asked sadly.

"I'm not used to having someone to talk to. Ever since I moved out of my parent's place when I was 18, I've been on my own. Sure, I had Daphne and Michael, but until recently I haven't been much for opening up. When it came to something that was really bothering me, I always took the easy road and clouded everything with booze and sex." Brian decided that if there was any chance of him getting Justin back, he'd have to be completely open.

"Can you learn?" Justin asked quietly. "Can you learn to turn to me first?"

"Do you want me to?" Brian asked. 

"Of course I want you to."

"Ant told me that you wouldn't ever want to see me again." Brian said. "I thought it was true. I kind of thought I'd come here and explain and still lose you."

Justin finally reached out and touched Brian, taking his hand. "I don't want that to happen." He said honestly. Brian wrapped his arms around Justin and held him tight. He felt a tremendous weight lifted from his shoulders.

"What now?" Brian asked after he and Justin had broken from the hug. 

"Tell me the truth. Do you still want to trick?" 

"Want to? No. But I can't make you any promises." Brian took a deep breath. "You make me want to try and be a good person. I'm not going to promise that I won't fuck up. I don't wanna be another Jonny."

"I respect that." Justin said.

"But is it enough?"

"You promise to try?"

"I promise to try."

"Me too." Justin smiled and hugged Brian again. "Can I come by tonight? Spend the night?"

"Of course." Brian smiled. "Are you kicking me out now?"

"There's something I have to do." Justin said, thinking of Anthony. He knew that he needed to speak with him before things festered and got permanently fucked up.

"Ok. I'll see you tonight then." Brian smiled. He and Justin held hands as they walked towards the door. "Thank you, Justin." He said quietly. 

"Anytime." Justin beamed. He gave Brian a quick kiss and then ushered him out the door. He wasn't looking forward to having to tell Anthony that he didn't return his feelings, but he knew it had to be done so that they could salvage their friendship.

Justin knocked on Anthony's door and waited. Moments later, he heard a muffled invitation to come in the room. Justin found Ant laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Anthony looked Justin straight in the eye when he sat down the bed. 

"So? Are you two back together?" Justin nodded. "I'm happy for you."

"Ant..." Justin began. He didn't know what to say. 

"You don't have to say anything, Justin. I didn't ask you to run away with me and be my husband, ok? I just told you that I couldn't sleep with you without it meaning something." Anthony didn't want to sound as angry as he did, but he couldn't help it. 

"So, we can just go back to being arch enemies?" Justin raised an eyebrow in an attempt to make his best friend laugh.

"Yup, arch enemies it is!" Ant grinned. He was happy that Justin wasn't going to draw out some big emotional scene, he hated that shit. "Wanna get a pizza?"

"For breakfast?"

"GOD! Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?" Anthony laughed and launched himself at Justin, tickling him into submission. "Now, do you wanna get a pizza?"

"Yes!" Justin exclaimed, trying to get his breath back. When Anthony smiled, Justin hugged him. "I'm glad I didn't fuck things up this morning."

"Stop with the sentimental shit, J. I want pizza, not tears a la Oprah, alright?" Anthony stood and pulled Justin to his feet.

"You're such a boy!" Justin teased, sticking out his tongue.

"Uh uh, honey, I'm all man." Anthony grinned. "Now hurry up. I need pizza like now!"

"Geez, you're such a slave driver!" Justin gave a melodramatic sigh. "No wonder you're my arch enemy."

"I'm gunna go arch enemy on your ass if you don't get crackin!" Anthony threatened teasingly, throwing his friend into the hall and closing the door to get dressed. 

Justin stood in the hallway beaming. "Everything will be fine." He said happily before walking into his room to get dressed. 

***

"So, did he dump your sorry ass?" Daphne asked when Brian walked into the apartment. Brian walked over to the table where she was sitting and sat down. 

"He's giving me another shot." Brian didn't seem as happy about it as Daphne would have thought. 

"Were you hoping to get dumped?" Daphne asked with a raised eyebrow.

This brought Brian out of his stupor and he stared at her. "No! I'm so happy that he's giving me another chance. I just feel like I have to prove something to him now. Like, I have to prove that I'm a good boyfriend." Brian shook his head. "I hate the word boyfriend. It sounds so junior high. Blech."

"Well, if you're going to be the perfect boyfriend, you're going to have to get used to the word boyfriend." Daphne chuckled. 

"I want to treat him better than he's ever been treated." Brian said firmly. He surprised himself entirely by meaning it. 

"Have you two had any real dates?"

"What do you mean by real date?" Brian asked making a face.

"I mean, have you gotten dressed up nice and taken him out? Brought him flowers?" Daphne chuckled at her friend's complete lack of knowledge on romance.

Brian groaned. "That shit is so hetero! Why can't I get dressed up in the hottest thing I own and take him to Babylon?"

"You're joking, right?" Daphne asked slowly. "Tell me you don't actually think that taking him to Babylon is romantic!"

"Well..."

"GOD! We need to do something about you." Daphne grabbed his arm and pulled him to the door. "We're going to go get him a little gift and some flowers and you can go over to his apartment and surprise him."

"You want me to buy his affections?"

"No! I want you to make him feel special." She slapped him in the arm. "I'm going to turn you into the perfect boyfriend."

"Ok, Doctor Frankenstein..." Brian chuckled. "Let's go to it."


	12. Chapter 12

"Hello, boys. I'm Nathan." The waiter at Luigi's Pizzeria said as he looking down at Anthony and Justin's table. "Are you ready to order, or do you need a few minutes?"

"I think we're ready." Anthony said with a flirty smile. "We'll have an extra large pepperoni and a pitcher of coke." 

"Big appetites." Nathan grinned as he jotted their order down on his pad. "I'll be right back with your drinks."

"Damn, look at that ass." Anthony said with a lustful grin. "I think I'm gunna have to drag him into the men's room and have my way with him."

Justin chuckled. "You're such a boy!" 

"Stop calling me a boy or I'll throw you off the balcony when we get home." Anthony threatened with a laugh. "I'm not the one who has a boyfriend! I can fuck as many cute waiters as I want."

"You must be so proud." Justin drawled. In reality, he kind of liked that Anthony was single, it meant that he got him all to himself. 

"Oh, get down off your little pedestal, relationship boy." Anthony said, sticking out his tongue. "You choose to fuck the same guy every night and I choose to fuck a plethora. We're not that different, you know."

"Right, Ant. Whatever you say." Justin shook his head and laughed. 

"Just remember that Kinney used to be a hell of a lot like me." Anthony reminded his friend. "Maybe it'll just take meeting a cute little twinky like you to grow me up and turn me into a hetero-wannabe like you."

"I am NOT a hetero-wannabe!" Justin protested. "And don't call me a twinky."

"You are SO a hetero-wannabe!" Anthony teased. "Isn't anyone hot actually gay anymore?"

"What?" Justin asked laughing.

"Well, unfortunately, we never had you, you were always a one man boy, but we did lose Brian. He's all relationshippy now."

"Too bad you didn't get to fuck him first." Justin stuck out his tongue.

"I'm fucking glad I didn't." Anthony shuddered. 

"Why? Brian not hot enough for you?" Justin asked lifting an eyebrow.

"Don't fish. You know that, other than me of course, Brian is the hottest fag on campus." Anthony chuckled.

"Gee, thanks." Justin replied dryly.

"Aww, don't worry, sweet thing!" Anthony chuckled. "You're the hottest twinky on campus."

"What? Because I'm a baby faced blond I haven't earned official fagdom yet?" Justin joked.

"Nope. Not yet. Give it a few years." Anthony laughed. "Anyways, as I was saying. I'm glad I didn't fuck him because he'd be so hung up on me afterwards that you and he might not have gotten together."

"God, you're cocky."

"Sure am! Wanna see?" Anthony teased. 

"Nothing I haven't seen before." Justin said, trying to sound bored. "It's not all that impressive."

"You're SO getting thrown off the balcony later."Anthony chuckled. 

***

"You want me to get him this?" Brian asked, looking closely at the little black sculpture on the table at the street vendor on Liberty. "What the hell is it?"

"Fertility god." The woman behind the table replied. 

"No fucking way, Daph! I am NOT getting my boyfriend a fertility god!" Brian protested. 

"Look at the package!" Daphne laughed. 

"You want me to get him a sculpture with a gigantic cock?" Brian couldn't believe Daphne had even suggested the weird sculpture. He spotted a sculpture that he thought would be perfect for Justin and picked it up. "What about this one?" He asked. The sculpture was black and it was two forms in a spiral. 

"Brian! That's perfect!?" Daphne exclaimed. "How much?"

"Sixty dollars." The woman replied. "This piece was hand carved in Zimbabwe. It's a beautiful gift. Your boyfriend will love it."

"I'll take it." Brian was excited. He knew that Justin would love it, being that he was an artist. 

"You're turning into a good little boyfriend." Daphne smiled. "I didn't even have to pick it out for you." 

"No. You wanted me to buy the fertility god." Brian shuddered. "You're such a fucking chick."

"Why, thank you, Brian." Daphne chuckled. Once the sculpture was wrapped up and paid for, she grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the diner. "I'm hungry. Let's get something to eat before we go get the flowers."

"You want me to get him roses?" Brian made a face. "Roses are so..."

"Hetero?" Daphne chuckled, opening the door to the diner and pulling Brian in. "You don't have to get roses, Bri. Get him whatever kind of flowers you want to get him."

"I don't know shit about flowers. Contrary to popular belief, not all fags are florists." Brian said as he sat down at the booth he and Michael normally sat at.

"You could get him chocolates?"

"So I can make him all fat?" Brian raised an eyebrow.

"You're a pain in my ass, you know that!" Daphne was getting tired of Brian acting like it was hurting him to be romantic. She knew that Brian was actually enjoying himself, she knew as soon as he picked out the dancing lovers sculpture.

"You wish." Brian winked. 

"I'm gunna hurt you." Daphne warned. 

"Like to see you try, little girl." Brian smiled. Daphne wanted to stay mad at him, but knew she'd never be able to. 

"How about chocolate roses?" Daphne suggested as she looked through the menu. 

"Do you think he would like that?" Brian asked. "What if he thinks I'm a big freak for doing all this sentimental shit?"

"Do you really think little Justin would think you were anything other than wonderful for all this sentimental shit?" Daphne asked with a chuckle. 

"You're right." Brian smiled. He couldn't wait to prove to Justin that he would make a good boyfriend. He was committed to the promise he'd made to try.

"Asshole alert." Daphne said as Michael walked into the diner. 

"He looks like hell." Brian felt bad.

"Fuck that! It's his own fault!" Daphne wanted to walk over to Michael and smack him upside the head. "Don't start feeling all bad because little baby Mikey can't finally be a grown up."

"Daph. Stop." Brian said firmly. 

"Fine." Daphne sighed. 

***

"God! This pizza rules!" Anthony said through a mouthful of pizza. "I'm so glad you decided to drag me here."

"Uhm, Ant, you dragged me here." Justin reminded his friend with a chuckle before taking a big bite of the pizza.

"Oh yah! Fuck I'm smart!" Anthony kept right on devouring the pizza. Justin laughed and kept eating his too. The pizza was huge and he was sure that he and Anthony would be eating it cold for a few days.

"How is everything?" Nathan asked, walking up to their table. He and Anthony had been flirting for the whole meal and Justin was almost certain that the cute little waiter would be his friend's trick of choice that evening.

"Fucking awesome." Anthony grinned. "With the awesome food and the amazing staff, I think I'm gunna have to come here more often." He winked. Nathan blushed. Justin bit back his laughter.

"I don't think that the staff would mind that one bit." Nathan grinned and walked away. 

"I'm gunna fuck that guy." Anthony said with a grin. "I may even fuck that guy a few times. Look at that luscious ass!"

"What happened to dragging him into the men's room?"

"Nah! I want to spend more time with his ass than a quickie in the can." Anthony kept watching Nathan's ass until he couldn't see it anymore.

"Just the ass? Not the rest of him?"

"Well, his mouth is pretty too." Anthony winked. "Between those two orifices, I should be all set."

"Slut."

"Prude."

"Fuck you."

"Not gunna happen. I'm the top, remember?" Anthony winked. "So, what are you and Don Juan Kinney doing tonight?"

"I don't know. Probably just hanging out at the apartment?" Justin shrugged. "The same thing we always do?"

"You don't have to hide anymore. Little Mikey knows all about your little romance." Anthony reminded his friend. "You should get Kinney to take you out to a fancy french restaurant and then to the theater."

"Blech." Justin said. "I'd prefer something a little more creative. You know I don't like the conventional shit."

"Yah, like when you came home and cried on my shoulder when Jonny took you to the ballet for your anniversary." Anthony chuckled. 

"Yah." Justin shuddered. "If Brian ever takes me to see Swan Lake I'm going to shit twice and die." 

"What if his idea of romance is doing it in a dressing room at a sex shop?" Anthony asked, trying to keep his tone really serious when he was dying to laugh.

"I'll lose all faith in the homosexuals of Pittsburgh and move to San Francisco or something." Justin replied with a laugh. He remembered Anthony telling him about an experience he had a few months ago in a dressing room in a sex shop and knew that he was kidding.

"Ooh la la, baby. Take me with you. I'm sure the fags out west are much more fabulous than the tribe of trolls around here." Anthony grinned. "Except for pretty little Nathan." He was staring at the waiter again.

"You're pathetic. Let's get out of here."Justin laughed and grabbed his bag.

"Do u have a pen?" Anthony asked. "A pencil? Lipstick? I need to write our number on this here napkin."

"God!" Justin shook his head but pulled a pen out of his backpack. "Here."

Anthony quickly scribbled his name and number on the napkin and stood just as Nathan returned to the table. "Are you two leaving already?"

"Yeah," Anthony responded with a grin. "Blondie over here has to prepare himself for his big date with his Loverboy tonight." 

"Ahh, well, have a good time." Nathan seemed a little disappointed that they were leaving. 

"You too." Anthony replied with a big smile, sticking out his hand. When Nathan shook his hand, Anthony pressed the napkin with his info on it into the waiter's palm. "I hope you have a fantastic time tonight." He winked and Nathan blushed again.

Once they were out of the restaurant, Justin linked his arm with Anthony's and they headed in the direction of their apartment. "Where did you learn that?" Justin asked.

"Learn what?"

"How to seduce a guy like that." Justin replied. "It's so easy for you."

"I've been picking up guys since I was fifteen, J." Anthony shrugged. "You could pick up lots of guys too if that was your thing."

"I doubt it." Justin shrugged. "I'm surprised I even got Brian."

"Stop talking like that, you geek! You're a fucking hottie! Haven't you ever noticed the stares you get at Babylon?" Anthony hated having to reassure people that they were good looking, but with Justin he didn't mind as much.

"I never get hit on at Babylon."

"Well, I think you kind of put out a hands off vibe... Plus... never mind." Anthony looked away.

"Plus what?"

"This one time when you and I were there, I heard this guy talking about you. He was being a nasty disgusting troll so I kicked his ass." Anthony admitted.

"What was he saying?" Justin asked curiously. He couldn't believe that Anthony had kicked someone's ass on his behalf and hadn't told him.

"Just stupid shit about the stuff he was going to do to you... it was uncalled for." Anthony kept walking, keeping his eyes forward.

"You really are a sweet heart, Ant." Justin smiled, throwing his arms around his friend's neck and kissing him on the cheek. 

"You're too kind." Anthony said playfully, wanting to leave the subject behind. 

***  
"Ok, we have a sculpture and chocolate roses– have I mentioned that you're turning me into the most hetero man I can be? So where do I take him?" Brian was starting to get tired of all the date stuff and was ready to just have Daphne tell him what to do.

"What do you think he would like?"

"I don't know... Dinner and a movie?"

"God! How fucking boring and uncreative are you!" Daphne sighed dramatically. "Pass me the newspaper." Brian did as he was told and waited a full five minutes in silence as he watched her leaf through the entertainment section.

"Well?" He asked finally, becoming annoyed.

"We have three options." Daphne said. "There's an outdoor concert going on in a park downtown." Brian groaned. He didn't want to sit around with a mixture of intellectuals and hippies watching live music. 

"What else? The concert is out." Brian got up and grabbed two cans of Coke out of the fridge and sat back down at the table with Daphne. 

"Streetcar Named Desire is playing at that old theatre near Liberty."Daphne looked at him, waiting for a response on that choice.

"Maybe. Marlon Brando is really hot." Brian considered for a moment. "Hit me with the other option."

"There's a spring street carnival." Daphne was hoping that he picked the carnival. Her intuition told her that Justin would love it.

"What exactly does a street carnival entail?" Brian asked.

"It says here that there are rides and games and food galore." Daphne smiled. "I think Justin would like it."

"Carnival it is." Brian agreed. He thought it might be kind of fun to go on rides and just walk around with Justin. "Should I still take him the presents?"

"Yes." Daphne rolled her eyes. "He's going to love them."

"If you say so." Brian was silent for a minute. "What do you wear to a carnival?"

***

"So, what are you going to wear for Loverboy tonight?" Anthony asked. He and Justin were sitting around the apartment waiting for time to pass. 

"I don't know." Justin shrugged. "He's probably just going to come over and we'll watch a movie and then we'll go to bed."

"God, why don't you drag him out? Stop being such hermits." Anthony took a long drink of his Coke and sighed. "Come to Babylon."

"Real romantic, Ant. Let's go to the place where he cheated on me last night!" Justin shook his head. "I think we'll be avoiding Babylon for at least a few days."

"You have to come next weekend! It's Studs N Suds!" Anthony exclaimed. "You can't miss that!"

"Fine." Justin grumbled. Just then, the phone rang. "I'll get it." Justin said as he reached over and answered it. "Hello."

"Hi, uhm, I'm looking for Anthony." A male voice said.

"Just sec." Justin covered the mouth piece. "It's for you, stud." He chuckled.

"Yes?" Anthony answered playfully.

"Is this Anthony?"

"Sure is." Anthony rolled his eyes. He hated when people took forever to start a phone conversation. "Who's this?"

"Uhm, this is Nathan from the restaurant." The waiter replied.

"Oh, hey." Anthony grinned at Justin and mouthed the words "hot ass waiter" as he pointed at the phone. "What's going on?"

"I'm just on my break, so I figured I'd call." Nathan sounded really nervous and Anthony thought it was really cute.

"Is there any specific reason you're calling?" Anthony asked with a smile.

"Uhm, I was thinking maybe we could get together and do something tonight." Nathan replied. "I mean, if you're not already busy."

"No, I'm not busy. Why don't you come over here after you get off work and we'll figure out what we're going to do?" Anthony was grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"Sure. Where do you live?" Nathan sounded excited. Anthony gave him the address. "Ok, great. I'll be there probably around seven?"

"Sounds good. Later." With that, Anthony hung up.

"Hot ass waiter?" Justin said, bursting into laughter. 

"Mmm.... I'm totally going to fuck him tonight." Anthony grinned and started picturing all the things that he was going to do the adorable waiter.

"Have I mentioned that you're a total slut recently?" Justin asked through his laughter.

"Yah, like a million times today. What's with that? Am I sluttier today than usual?" Anthony asked with a grin. 

"If you got any sluttier than usual, I'd be frightened!" Justin teased. "You want me to drag Brian out so you can have your way with Mr. Hot Ass Waiter and send him home at a decent hour?"

"And if I don't want to send him home?" Anthony raised an eyebrow.

"I'm bringing Brian back here tonight!" Justin chuckled. "Let's not make it another contest to see who can moan louder."

"You're just pissy because you lost."

"I'd win this time." 

"Care to put a little wager on that?" Anthony winked.

"Not so much. I don't want to be thinking about a bet when Brian is fucking me." Justin grinned. "I mean, tonight will be make up sex."

"Ooh la la..." Anthony grinned. "Be loud. Waiter boy will probably think we're done for the night, but I know for a fact that hearing you and Brian moaning and groaning will get him going again."

"Can't wait to be of service." Justin said sarcastically, making a face. "Why can't you go to his place?"

"Because I want him to come here. He probably lives at home or some shit anyways." Anthony kissed Justin's cheek. "And I plan on keeping him VERY busy."

"You're gunna be a bear in the morning if things don't go as planned. He probably won't even blow you." Justin laughed. 

"Don't even talk like that, Justin Taylor!" Anthony hissed. "I'm going to have that boy ass up in my bed panting for more, you just wait and see."

"Big talker, aren'tcha?" Justin laughed. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get ready to see my boyfriend. I have to be very thorough getting ready because I'm certainly getting fucked tonight."

"Shut up and go shower, you little shit." Anthony threw one of the pillows from the couch at his roommate who quickly disappeared into the bedroom.


	13. Chapter 13

Justin stepped out of his bedroom looking absolutely luscious and Anthony had to remind himself yet again that Justin wasn't, and never would be, his. Justin was wearing a pair of dark denim jeans and a tight dove grey sweater. Anthony shifted his stare back to the TV and reminded himself that Justin had dressed for Brian and not for him.

"So, how do I look?" Justin asked, doing a little spin. Anthony turned and looked at his friend, again taking the opportunity to drink him in.

"Brian's going to fall over." Anthony said with his best smirk. When Justin smiled at the compliment, Anthony added. "You're totally one of the hottest guys in Pittsburgh and you don't even know it."

"Stop!" Justin giggled. "What time is Mr. Waiter coming over?"

"That's Mr. Hot Ass Waiter to you." Anthony corrected with a grin. "He should be here any minute. I hope Brian is picking you up soon."

"Yah, he just called." Justin said as he walked over to get his shoes. "I didn't tell him we had to go out. I guess I'll just drag him out when he gets here."

"You're such a good little roommate." Anthony grinned. "Giving me time to fuck my little hottie."

"Just remember that I'm bringing Brian back here later." Justin said. He didn't want to walk in with Brian to find Anthony and Nathan going at it on the kitchen table or somewhere else that would embarrass him.

"I'll behave." Anthony grinned. "I'll have the young thing tucked into bed all snuggly long before you and BriBri come back."

"You're gunna let the waiter spend the night?" Justin asked, looking disgusted. "You never let anyone spend the night."

"I let you spend the night." Anthony shrugged.

"I pay half the rent, smartass." Justin replied, shaking his head and chuckling. 

"I just think that I'll want to give Nathan a really good tip for his impeccable service this afternoon." Anthony winked. "And the impeccable service he's going to give my cock tonight."

"You are so rude." Justin laughed. 

"Ahh, you love it." Anthony grinned. "I say all the shit that you think, but would never dare say. Maybe Kinney will teach you a few things about being outspoken."

"If I haven't learned anything from you, what makes you think I'll learn anything from him?" Justin asked.

"You did learn a few things from me. When I met you, you still said weiner when you were referring to your cock, and you never ever said the word fuck." Anthony grinned. "Least I turned you into a potty mouth."

"I'm sure you're so proud." Justin rolled his eyes. 

~knock, knock~

"That's probably Brian." Justin said with a big smile as he headed towards the door.

"I have company coming tonight too, you know." Anthony pouted. He was starting to feel like Justin had it better, always being in a relationship as opposed to fucking every random hot guy he met.

When Justin answered the door, he couldn't help but be disappointed that it was Nathan standing on the other side and not Brian. "Hey, Nathan." He said. "Come on in."

"Uhm, hi." Nathan looked a little confused as to why he was there. "Is Anthony here?"

"I'm right here, sugar." Anthony drawled from the couch. "Don't be shy. Come on in. A few more minutes and my roommate's boyfriend is coming to take him far far away."

"Oh." Nathan brightened. "You have a boyfriend?" He asked Justin.

"Yah. His name is Brian." Justin smiled. "He'll be here to pick me up soon. When he gets here, you can meet him." He knew why Nathan was happy to hear that he had a boyfriend. It was obvious that the slight blonde boy was over the moon for Anthony already. Justin couldn't help but feel sorry for the kid, but shrugged it off, telling himself that Anthony was never one to lead anyone on.

"Cool." Nathan said with a smile.

"Come sit with me, waiter boy." Anthony gave Nathan a dazzling smile and the boy was next to Anthony on the couch in mere moments.

~knock, knock~

Justin was relieved to hear the knock on the door and quickly ran to answer it. He couldn't wait to get away from Anthony and his painfully adorable companion for the evening. When Justin opened the door he found Brian standing there dressed in a pair of black pants, a white wife beater and a jean jacket. "Hey, babe." Justin said with a smile. 

"Hey, sexy." Brian replied with a big smile. "Can I come in?"

"Yah, of course." Justin said opening the door wider. 

"Did you miss me?" Brian asked playfully.

"Of course." Justin beamed, all thoughts of Ant and his "date" forgotten.

"Hey, Kinney." Anthony said from the couch. At this point he was stretched out sideways on the couch with Nathan between his legs.

"Hey, Ant." A look passed between the two of them. Brian's was an assurance that he was to be trusted and Anthony's was a look of warning and forgiveness at the same time. They were both relieved that the other was ready to let bygones be bygones. "And Ant's friend."

"Brian, this is Nathan. He was our waiter this afternoon when we went for pizza, which by the way we have tons of left over so you're staying for breakfast." Justin said with a wink.

"Yes, sir." Brian playfully saluted. "Nice to meet you, Nathan." Brian reached out his hand and shook the young waiter's hand. He thought to himself that Ant and he had similar taste, he would have fucked the guy in a minute if he wasn't with Justin.

"What's that?" Justin asked, nodding towards the two boxes Brian was holding. 

"I brought you a couple of little surprises." Brian grinned. When Justin's face lit up, Brian felt a swelling in his heart and was glad that Daphne had advised him.

"Presents? For me?" Justin started to get giddy.

"No!" Brian said sarcastically. "The surprise is that they're for Anthony."

"Aww! You shouldn't have." Anthony piped up from the couch, laughing.

"Can I open them now?" Justin asked looking at Brian hopefully. 

"Sure." Brian led his boyfriend over to the kitchen table and put down the gifts on the table before pulling Justin into a passionate embrace. "Hi." He said with a smile as their lips came apart.

"Is that the first part of my present?" Justin asked with a grin. "Because if it wasn't meant to be, I'm still taking it that way."

"Open your presents, retard." Brian chuckled. 

"Which one should I open first?" Justin asked, excited.

"The long one." 

"Ok." Justin smiled as he picked up the long, narrow box. He opened it and smiled when he saw the rose covered in white paper. "Why is it covered?"

"It's a wrapper, fuck ass, it's chocolate." Anthony piped up from the couch. "God! How many boyfriend's have you had? You've never gotten a chocolate rose before? Bah!"

"Thank you for that nice sentiment during my romantic moment with my boyfriend." Justin replied dryly. "Why a chocolate rose?" He asked. He was curious to know why Brian had chosen a chocolate flower over a real one.

"Well, with the amount you can consume, I figured the best gift I could get you would be food. It came down to the chocolate flower and a Big Mac. The flower just squeaked in." Brian teased.

"Very funny, asshole." Justin said though he was still beaming.

"Open the next one." Nathan said excitedly. He was as into the romantic moment as Justin was and started to fantasize that Anthony would one day surprise him with chocolate roses.

"I wasn't sure whether you'd like it." Brian said suddenly not so sure that Justin would love the sculpture. Was it too soon to get such an intimate gift? "If you don't like, you can say so."

"What is it?" Justin asked, suddenly a little afraid to open the package that was sitting in front of him.

"Open it." Brian said quietly. Justin tore off the paper and opened the box. Once he had the lid off, he stared into the box for what seemed like an eternity. Brian got upset, sure that Justin didn't like it and was about to say something when Anthony piped up.

"What the fuck is it? The suspense is killing me over here." 

Brian was about to turn and glare at Justin's roommate, but before he knew it his arms were full of the blonde and Justin was attacking his mouth with mind blowing kisses. Several minutes later, when they finally broke apart, they found Anthony and Nathan staring at them.

"What?" Justin asked innocently.

"What the hell is in that box?" Anthony asked, still shocked at the display of passion he had just been witness to.

"The most perfect gift in the world from the most perfect boyfriend in the world." Justin said cutely. He reached into the box and pulled out the hand carved sculpture, holding it up to show Anthony and Nathan.

"Wow." was all Nathan said. Anthony, on the other hand, put in a little more input.

"Could that have been any fucking cheesier Justin? You could have just said ‘Brian got me a sculpture' and called it a day." Anthony teased. "Fuck, Kinney, you must know him better than I thought you did." Anthony smiled. Despite his own feelings for Justin, he knew that it was Brian that the blond wanted and he was happy to see an effort being made to give Justin happiness.

"I'm not just a pretty face, you know."

"Who'd ‘ve thunk?" Anthony replied with a grin. "Now, I hate to do this at this painfully romantic moment, but will you two get the fuck out? I want to be alone with my private server for the evening."

"Yah, yah." Justin didn't want to go out, but he knew he had to keep his promise to Anthony. If he had his own way, he and Brian would be falling into bed at that moment instead of making their way to the door.

"Nice meeting you, Nathan. Make sure he gives you a good tip." Brian called as Justin dragged him out the door.

"I wanted to go straight to bed. I wish I hadn't promised Ant that he could have the apartment." Justin complained as they held hands in the elevator.

"Wouldn't have mattered." Brian replied. "I had plans for the two of us already."

"You did?" Justin asked. 

"Uh huh, so even if Ant's new boyfriend hadn't been coming over, we would have been going out anyway." Brian replied with a grin.

"Not so soon though." Justin smirked.

"Yes, so soon. When I get you naked in bed tonight I plan on spending hours there." Brian reached down and nipped on Justin's ear.

"Mmm..." Justin turned to kiss Brian. "Nathan's not a boyfriend though. He's a trick." He felt the need to clarify. "Ant doesn't do boyfriends. The waiter will be gone before you and I get back."

"I didn't do boyfriends either." Brian reminded him. That reminder set a whole new thought process in motion in Justin's head. He didn't like the idea of Anthony having a boyfriend and it causing trouble with their friendship, the way it did with Brian and Michael.

"I'm glad you do now though." Justin replied, deciding that it probably wasn't a good idea to get into the whole Anthony discussion.

***

"A carnival?" Justin asked in shock as he and Brian made their way from the car to where the flashing lights and sounds of the carnival over took the street. "You? Are taking me? To a carnival?" 

"We can go somewhere else if you want." Brian replied, fearing that Justin hated his idea. He didn't like the insecurities that had come with caring about Justin, but he figured that he would try to ignore them and just concentrate on making Justin happy.

"Are you kidding? I've always wanted a date to take me to a carnival." Justin giggled with glee. "My dream dates are a carnival and the drive-in." He admitted.

"The drive-in, huh? I'll keep that in mind." Brian smiled. 

"Come on, Brian!" Justin urged, picking up the pace and bringing Brian with him. "We have to go on all the puke rides first!"

"Great." Brian said trying to sound enthusiastic. He wasn't a fan of the whirling, spinning rides that left your stomach quivering, but he'd promised himself that he would do anything he could to make the night perfect for Justin. If that meant going on rides that were going to throw his stomach off for the next few hours, so be it.

"Are we going to eat here?" Justin asked.

"Not before the ‘puke rides'." Brian said firmly. "I want tonight to end with you and me in bed screaming each other's names, not me alone with my head in the toilet praying to the porcelain gawd."

"Gee, Bri, that's a romantic thought." Justin rolled his eyes. "I was just wondering because when you go to a carnival you have to have corn dogs and cotton candy."

"I promise you corn dogs and cotton candy as soon as we're done with the spinny rides." Brian said with a smile before leaning down to kiss Justin softly. "You lead, I'll follow."

"Ooh, I like the sound of that." Justin winked before heading off in the direction of the loud music and screaming people. 

After a full hour of spinning rides, Brian felt much better than he had expected and was actually feeling a little hungry. After confirming with Justin that the ‘puke rides' were done for the night, Brian led the way to the concession. "You hungry."

"I'm always hungry." Justin grinned. "Corn dogs."

"And cotton candy?" Brian figured that in Justin's mind, they came in a pair.

"Why don't we pick that up on our way out?" Justin asked with a cute smile. "I think we could have some fun with that when we get back to the apartment."

Brian felt an immediate tightening in his groin and he stopped to pull Justin tight against him. "Can we just go now?" He purred against Justin's ear, teasing the lobe with his tongue before nibbling a path down the blonde's neck.

"Mmm..." Justin moaned, the feeling of Brian's lips on his neck and hardon pressed against him made Justin want to forget that the whole world existed and lose himself in Brian. After several more minutes of kissing, Justin knew he had to stop it or their perfect date would end right there. "C'mon, Bri, we're not on Liberty Avenue. We're in the ‘burbs. If we don't stop now, we'll probably get arrested."

"You're right." Brian said, pulling out of the embrace and roughly dragging a hand through his hair. "How about we get those corn dogs?"

"You're going to have one?" Justin was surprised. He hadn't figured Brian to be a corn dog type of guy. 

"I'm starving." Brian replied.

***

"We have to ride the ferris wheel..." Justin paused for a minute. "But that has to be last. Wanna walk down the midway and see the games?" 

"Want me to win you a stuffed animal?" Brian asked with a smile.

"How bout I win you one?" Justin replied with a smile. He'd always been good at carnival games and he wanted to give something back to Brian for planning the perfect evening.

"You're cute when you try to be butch." Brian teased. 

Justin found the game he wanted and dug some money out of his pocket. "See that big fluffy stuffed dog up there?" He said pointing to a truly huge stuffed pug. "I'm gunna win you that one and you have to sleep with it every night you don't sleep with me."

"Promise you'll win it?" Brian challenged. "You win me that and I'll cuddle up to it even." He was secretly hoping Justin would win, he knew that it would make the date even better for his boyfriend. Brian watched as Justin threw the ball and missed twice. 

"This is the one." Justin said with a grin. He was right. The ball went right into one of the cups and the carnie working the game flipped it over. With a chuckle he began to take the big dog down from the shelf.

"Have fun." He winked at Brian handing him the toy. 

"How the hell did you do that?" Brian asked. 

"I've always been good at games like that. I can't throw a football to save my life, but throwing a ball into a little cup comes easily." Justin beamed. He knew Brian had wanted to win him something, but couldn't be happier than it was the other way around.

"You really want me to sleep with it?" Brian made a face.

"No." Justin laughed. "Just don't put it in your closet or give it away, ok?"

"Promise." Brian said slipping his free hand into Justin's. "He can have his very own place in my bedroom." Justin was, once again, beaming.

"Can we go on the ferris wheel and then go back to my place?" He asked.

"Of course." Brian smiled. "I haven't been on a ferris wheel in so long."

"Me neither. I'm glad the first time in so long will be with you." Justin looked up at Brian from beneath lowered lashes, unsure of how his admission would be taken.

"I'm glad too." Brian replied. "Now, let's get crackin. I wanna get you back to your place as soon as I can." Justin giggled and they got on the ferris wheel, leaving the stuffed dog at the bottom with the ride operator.

"This is nice." Justin said as he snuggled against Brian as they looked out on the lights of Pittsburgh.

"Who would have thought the Pitts would look this pretty at night." Brian said without thinking.

"Did you, Brian Kinney, just say pretty?" Justin tried to hold back his laughter. 

"Shut the fuck up, you're ruining our moment." Brian closed his eyes and concentrated on the smells and the sounds, needing to memorize the moment. Brian had learned early on that really perfect days had to be remembered because they didn't happen all that often. From the moment Brian had learnt that, he'd always been careful to memorize every sense he got on one of those days.

"I wish I had a sketchbook." Justin said when Brian finally opened his eyes. "You looked so beautiful just then."

"I don't look beautiful all the time?" Brian raised an eyebrow.

"Of course you do, but there was something about you when you had your eyes closed like that. It was like you were at complete peace and everything was perfect. I've never drawn anyone who looked that serene." Justin explained.

"Everything is perfect right now." Brian kissed Justin's temple. He hoped beyond hope that things could stay the way they were at the moment for as long as possible, forever if he could.

"Mmmm..." Justin hummed his agreement, snuggling closer to Brian to enjoy the ride.

***

"Shh..." Justin whispered as Brian carried him piggy-back into the apartment. "Don't wake Ant." 

"We're going to be waking him up in a few minutes anyways, Justin." Brian reminded him. "Besides, it's not even midnight. He's probably still in there fucking the waiter." Justin rolled his eyes but said no more as Brian carried him into his bedroom, kicked the door shut, and dropped him on the bed.

Brian looked down at Justin as he lay on the bed staring up at him. Brian was certain that he'd never met anyone as beautiful as Justin in his entire life and never would. "Jesus, you're amazing." He whispered, before pulling his shirt off and climbing onto the bed. "I want to feel you against me."

Justin reached down and lifted his sweater up his chest and quickly over his head, tossing it onto the floor forgotten. He shivered as Brian slid the tips of his fingers over his flesh. Justin bit his lips, trying to keep the first of his moans from escaping. Soon, as Brian's hands rubbed at his chest and tummy, Justin could hold it no more and he let out a gasp followed by a moan.

"You have the most amazing skin." Brian said leaning down to kiss Justin's collar bone. "You're so pale that you almost glow with the moon shining on you. There're no marks on you, no scars. You're flawless." Brian kissed a little lower on Justin's chest, moving closer to his nipples. "And soft, you're so fucking soft." Brian took a nipple into his mouth and sucked on it gently. 

"God! Brian!" Justin nearly screamed. It seemed like all of his feelings were heightened, everything was more intense. "Brian," he whimpered this time. Brian had lifted his mouth off the nipple and was slowly tracing a line to the other one with his tongue. 

"I love when you say my name." Brian whispered before capturing the other nipple. Justin threw his head back and moaned again. "Every time you say my name, you make it sound sexy." Brian sucked hard on Justin's nipple and the blonde's hips thrust upwards involuntarily.

"I need you... Brian... please." Justin begged for Brian to touch him lower, to shed him of the clothing that was providing a barrier between his and Brian's flesh.

"Patience." Brian smiled, moving back up to kiss Justin's lips. Justin was sure that he'd never felt a kiss like this and he never would again. Brian started out slowly, gently coaxing Justin's lips open. He poked his tongue out and gently traced the blonde's lips. "You taste so sweet. It's you mixed with cotton candy." Brian kissed him deeply again. "Intoxicating."

"You're making me crazy." Justin panted. 

"I like it when you're crazy for me." Brian said, sliding his hand down his lover's side to caress his hip. "Your body is absolutely perfect." He moved his head away from Justin's head and his lips followed the same path that his hand had only moments before. "You're soft in all the right places and firm in the others." He breathed. 

"Ohhhh." Justin moaned as he felt Brian caressing his erection through the soft material of his pants. "You're teasing me."

"No." Brian said, sliding his fingers up to undo the pants. "I'm trying to memorize you." He corrected. "I want everything to be clear when I remember tonight, and that means remembering exactly how you felt to me."

"Jesus!" Justin curled his toes into the sheets as he felt Brian's care hand grasp him and begin stroking. "Brian!" he moaned loud. "Please don't make me wait."

"Wait for what? For this?" Brian asked as he lowered his mouth onto Justin. The blonde moaned louder and longer as he felt his cock being sucked into his lover's hot mouth. Brian slowly sucked him, wanting it to be the best ever. He wanted to be the best ever.

Brian reached down and cupped Justin's balls as he continued sucking him gently. He didn't want to go to quickly, he wanted everything paced. Justin spread his legs further and Brian slipped his hand beneath him, teasing his hole with the tip of his finger.

"Please hurry, Brian! I don't know how much more I can take!" Justin nearly screamed when he felt Brian's finger against his pucker. "I want you inside me."

"Still memorizing." Brian said softly, gently lifting Justin's legs onto his shoulders and moving his mouth lower. As his tongue replaced his finger and he rimmed his lover expertly, Justin began moaning like Brian had never heard. "Do you want me inside you now?" Brian asked.

"Fuck yes!" Justin was out of patience and needed his lover inside him more than he needed his next breath, or any of the breaths after that. He was certain that if he didn't have Brian inside him soon, he would die.

Brian prepared himself and Justin quickly, losing the patience he'd had as well. As he slipped inside Justin, he threw his head back and let out a long sigh. "God!" He moaned. "You feel so amazing around me."Brian began very slowly thrusting into Justin, making Justin cry out in ecstasy.

"Please, Brian, I need you to not be gentle right now." Justin begged. The pressure that had been building inside him since Brian had first lay him down on the bed was becoming unbearable and he needed more than anything the climax that his body was promising.

Brian obeyed, letting go of the strength it had taken to go slowly. All he wanted at that moment was to completely lose himself in the sensations that being inside Justin created. They moved together, as though they had been together for years, moving closer and closer to release together.

"Come with me." Brian pleaded quietly. Being in sync with Justin felt so good and he wanted them to experience their explosions together. 

"Yesss!" Justin moaned as he came. Feeling Justin tighten around him, Brian felt his own release and threw his head back, seeing stars in his head. As they collapsed side by side on the bed, both men had no conscious thought. Everything was a blur and everything was perfect.

"Are you guys okay?" Came a laughing voice from the other side of the wall. The voice was followed by loud hooting and applause. 

"I'm going to kill your roommate now." Brian said tonelessly as he rolled off the bed and made his way to the door, only taking time to toss the condom into the garbage before stepping out into the hall and bursting into Anthony's room. "Could you two little fuckers grow up?" He demanded seeing Anthony and Nathan cuddled up together in the bed. "I'm trying to fuck my boyfriend. I plan on doing it a few more times tonight. If I hear a fucking peep from here, I'm throwing you both off the balcony." 

Without waiting for an answer, Brian slammed the door and went back into Justin's room. Justin was looking up at him from the bed with a slightly amused look on his face. "You sure told them." He said, grinning.

"I wasn't joking." Brian said, crawling back into the bed and wrapping himself around Justin. "There'll be a lot more of what just happened tonight and if those little shits interrupt I'm going to throw them out." Brian kissed the back of Justin's neck. "Be extra loud next time though, give those little bastards a show they'll never forget."

"I think the little show of you naked, still flushed from fucking me, yelling at them is the show they won't forget." Justin giggled, snuggling closer to his boyfriend. He knew it was going to be a long night and he couldn't wait to get started again.


	14. Chapter 14

"Morning, Sunshine." Brian said sweetly as he watched his lover wake up, shards of light filtering through the blinds. Justin smiled his "sunshine" smile and looked up at Brian affectionately. 

"Hey." He said, his voice husky from sleep. "How did you sleep?" 

"Perfectly." Brian smiled and leaned down to press a kiss to the tip of Justin's nose. "I am, however, going to die of starvation if we don't get our asses up and get some food ASAP." Justin smiled. 

"There's cotton candy on the floor over there." Justin teased pointing to the side of the bed. "You could munch on that." 

"Very funny, you little smartass. Get up and make me some food." Brian winked to let Justin know he was kidding. 

"You're lucky I like to cook or you'd be out there cooking your own breakfast." Justin grinned and rolled off the bed, grabbing a pair of sweats off the side of the chair and pulling them on. 

"Nah." Brian chuckled, grabbing his discarded pants off the floor and sliding them up over his hips. "I'd go out there and sweet talk Ant into making me something. I'm sure I could charm him into it." 

"Yah, right." Justin chuckled. "I'm probably going to have to make him something too. He couldn't make toast til I showed him." 

"Are you kidding?" 

"Nope. Poor guy had never had to cook for himself. He's a rich kid. Grew up with a maid, butler, and full time cook." Justin chuckled. "His parents weren't too happy with him becoming a music student." 

"Anthony is a music student?" Brian asked. He'd had no idea. 

"Yup." Justin nodded. "He wants to be a music teacher." 

"God, that's weird." Brian shook his head. "I never would have guessed that about him." 

"What did you have him pegged for?" 

"Never really thought about it, I guess." Brian shrugged, before grinning. "I was always too preoccupied with his adorable blond roommate." He grabbed Justin around the waist and dragged him back over to the bed, kissing him as they went. 

"Thought you wanted breakfast so you won't starve to death." Justin teased between kisses. 

"I'm having my appetizer." Brian teased as he lowered Justin's sweats. "We can eat breakfast after I get a high protein snack." 

*** 

After their morning interlude, Brian and Justin stepped out of Justin's bedroom to the sound of Yellow Submarine. "Ant, why the hell are you watching this?" Justin asked, as he walked to the kitchen. "You fucking hate this movie." 

"Well, Blondie over here saw it sitting on top of the TV and wanted to watch it." Anthony replied. Justin's head whipped around and he saw Anthony and Nathan sitting on the couch eating Corn Puffs and looking cozy. 

"Well, isn't that nice." Justin snapped, looking at Nathan with venom in his eyes. He turned and walked into his bedroom, slamming the door. 

Anthony and Brian looked at each other, neither were really sure what to say. Brian shrugged and went to get himself some cereal. He thought momentarily about following Justin but, he wasn't sure he really wanted to   
go there with Justin right at that moment. Anthony kissed Nathan quickly and stood, making his way to Justin's room. 

"Can I come in?" He asked, peeking into the room. 

"Aren't you too busy for that?" Justin snapped. 

"Never too busy for my best friend." Anthony said, sitting on the bed and throwing an arm around Justin. "So, what's with the uber-bitch moment out   
there?" 

"What the fuck is the little waiter still doing here?" Justin demanded. 

"I'm feeding him. We had a pretty insane night last night and we never ate. Poor guy must be starving after having me put him through his paces." Anthony joked. 

"Why is he watching my tape?" Justin asked. He couldn't really explain his intense reaction to seeing that Ant's trick had spend the night and he didn't really want to go down that road. 

"What's with you?" Anthony asked, shocked at Justin's venomous attitude towards Nathan. "Why are you acting like some jealous boyfriend?" 

Anthony's words brought Justin back to reality and he shook his head to try and clear his thoughts. "I'm so sorry, Ant." He sighed. "I guess it was just really weird to see that you let a trick spend the night. You're never   
cuddled up on that couch with anyone other than me." 

"Come on, babe." Anthony hugged Justin. "You know that no one comes before you. You're my best friend and my favorite person in the whole world. Just   
because I met someone that I think I really like, doesn't mean that you're any less important. You're still first, okay?" 

"Thanks, Ant." Justin felt relieved at hearing that he still came first but, still hoped that once Nathan left the apartment, he wouldn't come back. There was something about the cute little waiter that irked the blonde. 

"I'd better get back out there or my cereal will get soggy." Anthony grinned. "And we'd both better make sure that Brian and Nathan haven't decided that they found better and run off together." Justin laughed. 

"I've had enough of Brian cheating on me, thanks." He chuckled again. "Let's get back out there." 

They made their way back out to the living room and found Nathan still sitting on the couch, enthralled in the movie, and Brian sitting in the arm chair with a bowl of Cheerios on his lap. "You started without me." Justin   
pouted. Brian looked up and smiled. 

"I told you I would die if I didn't eat right away." He winked. "I meant it." 

"Didn't stop you from getting your protein in the bedroom." Justin walked over and picked up the bowl of cereal, crawling onto Brian's lap. When Justin started feeding Brian spoonfuls of cereal, Anthony made a wretching noise. 

"You two should make one of those shitty romantic comedies." He made the wretching noise again. "You're so sticky sweet it makes me want to vomit." 

"Oh, how I love hearing the word vomit while my boyfriend is feeding me Cheerios." Brian rolled his eyes. "Nathan, feed him some cereal so he'll shut up and let me eat in peace." 

Nathan gladly complied and started feeding Anthony spoonfuls of cereal. Anthony made a disgusted face but made no move to stop Nathan from feeding him. "You two look really good together." Nathan said, looking at Brian and Justin. "Like day and night." 

"Don't tell them that." Anthony grinned. "Their heads will get even bigger than they already are." 

"Fuck off." Justin laughed. "Just because I'm prettier than you..." 

"Twinkie McCutie over there thinks he's prettier than me." Anthony looked at Nathan with a grin on his face. "What do you think?" 

"He is." Nathan grinned playfully. 

"Justin, you're a bad influence on Nathan over here." Anthony said as he pinched Nathan's ass. "I don't think I should let you near him anymore. You might turn him against me." 

"He could never." Nathan said with a seductive smile. 

As Justin watched the exchange, he felt an intense urge to jump off Brian's lap and gouge the cute little waiter's eyes out. He stayed silent and wondered why he felt that way. He wanted Anthony to be happy, didn't he? It   
couldn't be jealousy that was making him hate Nathan with the fiery passions of hell, could it? 

"Ant, I think you're falling into the same little trap I fell into." Brian observed, looking at Anthony and Nathan. 

"Trap?" Justin asked, raising an eyebrow. Brian's voice had brought him back from his thoughts and he was determined not to think about his feeling about Anthony and Nathan until later, when he was alone. 

"Best trap I ever fell into." Brian amended. 

*** 

"She wants me to come away with her to meet her parents this weekend." Lindsay gushed as she, Anthony, and Justin sat at their favorite booth at the on campus coffee shop. "This is starting to get really serious." 

"So you said you'd go on this little adventure to meet Mel's folks?" Anthony asked, teasing. "You sure you're ready to be under the microscope?" 

"What do you mean?" Lindsay asked biting her lip. 

"You've never done this before, right?" She shook her head. "They're gunna want to know all about you, they're gunna want to get to know you, listen to you talk about your background, ask you all sorts of questions..." 

"Stop scaring her, Ant." Justin said, smacking his friend. "I took Jonny to meet my mom and it was great." 

"What about when you met his folks?" 

"Not the same thing." Justin stated, matter-of-factly. "His dad was in the Army, a real man's man." He explained to Lindsay. "Big and intimidating. He interrogated me for like an hour, but I think that was because he wanted to find a reason for Jonny not to be with me. He would have done it to any guy." 

"I don't think Mel's parents are too keen on her being gay." Lindsay's excitement had faded and now she just looked terrified. "What if they hate me before they even meet me?" 

"Don't think like that." Justin said encouragingly. "Think of it as the next step in a serious relationship. She must be crazy about you to even think about taking you to meet them." 

"Do you think Brian will introduce you to his parents soon?" Lindsay asked. 

"I don't think so." Justin shook his head. "He isn't out to them." 

"Mr. I-don't-give-a-fuck-what-anybody-thinks hasn't come out to his parents yet?" Anthony asked incredulously. "What the hell is he waiting for?" 

"His dad's apparently a drunk, a total prick." Justin explained. "Remember my dad's reaction? Picture that from a drunk, violent guy. I'd probably still be in the closet too." 

"Yah, you're right." Anthony nodded. "You and Brian going to Studs N Suds tonight?" 

"I donno." Justin shrugged. "Maybe." 

"You should come. I'm taking Nathan." Anthony grinned.   
"Nathan? Two nights in a row?" Lindsay asked with a little smile. "You must really like him." Justin gritted his teeth. 

"Yah, I guess." Anthony shrugged. "He's someone I could definitely spend some time with." He smiled. "Maybe I'm just jealous that the two of you are   
all happy in your relationships and want to see if it's for me." 

"Well, good for you." Lindsay said with a big smile. "One of these days we'll have to go on a triple date." 

"Four fags and two dykes?" Anthony raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like something I could never enjoy." He noticed that Justin wasn't smiling, he was just   
staring at him blankly. 

*** 

"Hey, baby." Brian said with a big smile on his face when Justin opened the door to his apartment. "You ready for Babylon?" 

"Studs N Suds?" Justin asked with a smile. 

"Uh huh. Have you ever been to it? It's a blast!" Brian seemed excited so Justin put on a happy face and decided to stop thinking about Anthony and Nathan. 

"No, I've never been. But, I'm sure it'll be great. I'll be with you." Justin pulled on his zip front hoodie and they headed out. 

"Aren't you all cute tonight..." Brian teased, kissing Justin softly.

"Where's Ant?" 

"He went over to Nathan's." Justin grumbled. "I think they're going to be at Babylon tonight." 

"Cool." Brian grabbed Justin's hand. "Let's get going. I want to have you back here in bed at a decent hour." He grinned and raised an eyebrow suggestively. Justin laughed and locked the door. 

"Well, then let's go." Justin smiled. "I want you back here early too." 

*** 

"I just don't get it." Justin said as he and Brian stood at the edge of the dancefloor at Babylon. "He's never let a guy stay over and I don't even know what he sees in that guy." 

"What difference does it make?" Brian asked beginning to get annoyed. 

"I just don't want to see him get screwed over." Justin said, almost whining. 

"You're starting to remind me of Michael, Justin." Brian said exasperated. 

"Listen, I'm gunna go get myself a drink. I'll be right back." 

"Ok." Justin said absently. He was too busy watched as Anthony and Nathan walked towards him. Brian walked away, trying very hard not be to angry. He had chalked Justin's outburst that morning up to surprise but, he was starting to wonder if it was more than that. 

"Hey, J." Anthony said with a smile as he and Nathan arrived next to Justin, arms around each other. "Where's Mr. Kinney?" 

"He went to get a drink." Justin said. He didn't feel much like being around his roommate and his new boyfriend, but figured that he might as well suck it up. "Are you two having fun?" 

"Hell yes, we got soaked out there." Anthony laughed. "It's a good thing it's not cold outside, we'd freeze our fucking nuts off on the way home." He   
leaned over and kissed Nathan quickly. "And we wouldn't want that, now would we?" 

"No, we definitely wouldn't want that." Nathan said with a small smile on his face. "Will you miss me if I run over there and talk to my friend Jason?" 

"I think I'll live." Anthony said with a grin. "I've got J here to keep me company." 

"Good thing he has a boyfriend already." Nathan said with a wink before slipping into the crowd in search of his friend. Anthony wrapped an arm around Justin and looked out into the crowd. 

"Crazy party tonight, huh?" He observed. 

"Yah, it's insane." Justin chuckled. 

"I notice you're still dry. Why doesn't Kinney have you out there getting covered in bubbles?" 

"I don't know." Justin shrugged. Truth be told, he wasn't really in the mood for dancing once he saw his friend out there on the floor with the blonde waiter. 

"I'm having a great time. I think I'm going to keep Nathan around for a while. He's great." Anthony said honestly. "In a lot of ways, he reminds me of you." 

"Yah?" Justin tried to keep the annoyance at hearing that out of his voice. 

"How so?" 

"Well, he's an artist too, first of all." Anthony said with a smile. "He got accepted to the same program you're in, but he had to defer it for a year because he couldn't afford it." 

"Oh, yeah." Justin couldn't think of anything else to say. 

"And his personality is a lot like yours too." 

"Really..." 

*** 

Brian grabbed his drink and quickly downed it, signaling the bartender that he wanted another. He wasn't thrilled about how the evening with Justin was progressing and figured that he needed a few more drinks in him before he could handle listening to Justin complain about Anthony all night. 

"Hey, stranger." A voice that Brian hadn't heard in a long time, but still recognized easily, said from behind him. He paused, afraid to turn around. 

"Jamie." He said almost silently before turning around. When he turned, he was blown away. His first love looked even more amazing than he had three years earlier. "What are you doing in Pittsburgh?" 

"What? I don't even get a hello? I was hoping for at least a little kiss to show me that you missed me." Jamie said with a cocky smile. 

"I didn't." Brian replied firmly. "What the hell are you doing back? What happened to the great job you had?" 

"I decided that I wanted to be closer to home." Jamie reached out and touched Brian's cheek. Brian flinched and pulled away. "One would think you weren't happy to see me..." 

"Why should I be?" Brian countered. "I haven't spent the last few years pining for you, you know." 

"Well, I would hope not. I taught you better than that." Jamie chuckled. "I've heard stories about you. From what I've heard, you've been making your rounds on Liberty Avenue like I always taught you to." 

"Yeah? Well, not anymore." Brian said firmly. "If you'll excuse me, I have to go find my boyfriend." He didn't want to be around Jamie another second. 

"Boyfriend?" Jamie asked, eyebrow raised. "Don't tell me you're in a monogamous relationship!" 

"As a matter of fact, I am." Brian raised his chin, challenging Jamie to say something about it. 

"Don't tell me it's with little Mikey." Jamie laughed. "That little shit always hated that you were with me and not him." 

"No, it's not with Mikey." Brian rolled his eyes. "His name is Justin." 

"Aww, Justin. How sweet!" Jamie moved up closer and pressed himself against Brian. "Does he turn you on the way I do?" 

"No. You revolt me." Brian spat. "He actually makes me want him." 

"What, you hate me now? Because I left you?" Brian stayed silent. "Oh, come on, Brian, grow up. Fags don't do everlasting love. We do what makes us feel good in the moment. We believe in fucking, not in love." 

"Yeah? Well, not all of us." With that, Brian stepped around Jamie and started to walk away. He didn't get two feet before Jamie grabbed his arm. 

"Listen, I want to hook up with you while I'm here. I've never met anyone with an ass as amazing as yours." Jamie winked. 

"I don't bottom." Brian said, feeling vulnerable. 

"You loved it when you were with me. Maybe you just don't bottom anymore because no one can fill you like I can." Jamie slid his arm up to Brian's shoulder. "Maybe no one can make you feel as good as I do." 

"All you make me feel is sick." Brian said firmly before shrugging Jamie's hand off his shoulder and stalking away. 

*** 

"Did you miss me?" Nathan asked as he slipped his arms around Anthony's waist and kissing his neck. 

"You were gone?" Anthony teased. "Me and Justin were too busy checking out all the hot guys on the dance floor. Didn't even notice you were gone." 

"You're gunna pay for that." Nathan said, pinching Anthony's side. "Can we go dance some more?" 

"Let's wait til Brian comes back so we don't leave Justin here all by his lonesome." Anthony said, hugging Nathan close. 

"No. You guys go ahead." Justin couldn't take much more of their mushiness. "I'm sure Brian will be back any second." 

"If you're sure..." Anthony said skeptically. 

"I'm sure." Justin forced a smile. "Go. Have fun!" He wanted more than anything just to get rid of them. It bothered him to no end how mushy the two of them were. 

"Thanks, J." Anthony smiled, leaning over to kiss Justin on the forehead. "See you later!" With that, Anthony and Nathan scurried off towards the dancefloor to get covered in even more bubbles. 

"Can we get out of here?" Brian asked when he came back. He looked upset, but Justin was too preoccupied to really be concerned about the troubled look on Brian's face. 

"Yeah. I was just thinking the same thing." Justin said. The two of them walked towards the exit, both looking sullen. They climbed into Brian's car and drove towards Justin's apartment in silence. "Do you want to come up?" Justin asked when they pulled up in front. 

"No. I think I'm just going to go home and get some sleep. You exhausted me last night." Brian said forcing a smile. "I'll call you tomorrow though." 

"Ok." Justin tried to be upset, but he truthfully just wanted to be alone. "Maybe we could go out for lunch between classes tomorrow?" 

"Sounds good." Brian leaned over and kissed Justin softly on the lips. "Have a good sleep, baby." 

"You, too." Justin said smiling gently.


	15. Chapter 15

"Get up." Anthony smiled as he rolled Justin out of his bed and he landed on the floor with a thump. "Me and my boy are taking you to breakfast."

"Fuck off. I don't feel like it." Justin made a face and tried to climb back into his bed. He wasn't in the mood to have a happy little breakfast with Anthony and Nathan.

"I notice Brian isn't here. Is that why you're so miserable?" Anthony stood Justin up and pulled the comforter away. "Well, we're gunna fix your mood right up. Go hose yourself off real quick. We're leaving in ten." 

"I said I don't want to go." Justin grumbled.

"Well, as far as I can tell, you don't have a choice, my pretty." Anthony smiled. He had no idea what was going on with Justin, but he was determined to make him feel better.

"Ant... Please." Justin looked like he was on the verge of tears and Anthony wondered what happened.

"Did something happen with Brian?" Anthony asked, wrapping an arm around his friend. "Did he hurt you again?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Justin ran his fingers through his hair and resigned himself to the fact that he was getting dragged out for breakfast. He was happy that he had to be at class at ten so he wouldn't have to stay long. 

"Do I have to go beat him up?"

"No." Justin said with a sigh as he walked into the washroom. He wasn't sure what was going on with his moods. All he knew was that sometime during the course of the previous night, things had changed. He just wasn't sure what that meant.

***

Brian lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling. The previous night had really confused him and he was starting to doubt how solid his relationship with Justin was. His run in with Jamie compounded with Justin's attitude about Ant having a boyfriend was making him wonder if Jamie was right in his theory about queers and relationships. 

~Ring, Ring~

"Yah?" Brian answered, in no mood to be polite.

"What's got your panties in a twist?" Jamie's familiar voice floated into his ears.

"What the fuck do you want?" Brian demanded. 

"Now, is that any way to speak to someone you once promised to love forever?" The amusement in Jamie's voice infuriated Brian.

"I thought you didn't believe in love. You believe in fucking." Brian was feeling vulnerable because of all the questions he had about his life, and he wasn't sure that talking to Jamie was the right thing at that moment.

"Oh, come on, Brian." Jamie chuckled. "You shouldn't take life so seriously." 

"Why are you calling me, Jamie?" He demanded.

"I told you last night, I want to hook up." Jamie said simply, as if their past didn't exist.

"And I told you that I have a boyfriend." 

"That twinkie that you left with last night? He's real pretty, Bri, but he's not for you. Can you honestly tell me that he can make you feel as amazing as I used to?" Jamie challenged.

"It's not about sex, Jamie." 

"So he doesn't."

"When I'm with him, I feel whole." Brian's voice cracked with the emotion. "With you, I always felt empty."

"Listen to my little drama princess. Listen, I'm gunna pick you up and take you to breakfast. We should at least catch up." Jamie was so confident and Brian was finding it easy to let himself be led. 

"Fine." He relented. 

"Give me twenty minutes." Jamie sounded proud. "And wear something sexy." 

Brian hung up and laid back once more, searching for answers in the stippled ceiling. He wasn't sure why he had agreed to have breakfast with Jamie, he didn't want to see him at all. What he wanted was to go back to the other night when he and Justin had gone to the carnival. He couldn't remember ever feeling that amazing.

***

"... So I says to the guy, 'Who do you think you are? Barbara Fucking Streisand?'" The punch line to Nathan's joke had Anthony laughing hysterically. Justin merely smiled politely and looked at the clock again.

"I have to get going soon, you guys." Justin said uncomfortably. He didn't want to be there and wished that his class was earlier so he could just leave.

"You don't have class until ten." Anthony said. "Plenty of time."

"How do you like your courses?" Nathan asked with enthusiasm. "I got accepted into the same program as you, but I couldn't afford it so I had to defer." 

"It's great." Justin's words lacked enthusiasm.

"Maybe I could see some of your work sometime?" Nathan really wanted Justin to like him because he knew that it would improve his chances with Anthony if he did.

"Sure." Justin replied non-committally. 

"Heya, boys." Emmett said as he arrived at their table in a flourish. "You guys okay for coffee?"

"I'll have more." Justin replied anxiously. He was already on his fourth cup. 

"I'm gunna have to cut you off soon, Mister." Emmett winked and swished away from the table. 

"Hey, there's Brian!" Nathan exclaimed as he saw Brian enter the diner. He regretted telling them as he saw Jamie wrap an arm around the brunette's waist.

Justin turned, happy that he was going to have his boyfriend to distract him. His face fell once more when he saw that Brian wasn't alone, that he in fact looked pretty cozy with his companion. When Brian's eyes found Justin, he felt like someone had ripped his heart out. 

"Justin." He mouthed the words as he pulled away from Jamie. He'd shown Justin his photo album a few days earlier, so he was sure that the blond would recognize Jamie. 

"I... uh... You guys, I gotta go." Justin blinked back the tears that were threatening to spill from his eyes. He felt like he was losing everyone who mattered to him. He stood, turning away from Brian in the process, and pulled his jean jacket on. He had every intention of leaving without saying a word to his so-called boyfriend.

"We'll come with you." Anthony threw some money on the table, breakfast completely forgotten. 

"No." Justin said firmly, even though he felt like he was about to fall apart. "I just want to be alone right now."

"Are you sure, J?"

"I'm sure." Justin nodded, taking a deep breath, telling himself that he needed to be calm and cool. He turned and found Brian still looking at him, unsure of what to say. Jamie was looking at him with a proud smirk.

When Justin tried to walk past, avoiding eye contact, Brian grabbed his arm. "Justin, I swear, this isn't..."

"Don't." Justin's voice was cold. "Just... don't." With that, Justin pulled out of Brian's grip and left the diner. For the first time in his life, he felt completely empty and alone. 

***

"You promised me that you weren't gaming him." Anthony said after pulling Brian aside. "And then you show up here with some other guy... You fucking crushed him, Brian."

"It's not what it looks like." Brian said. He felt like he was going to break down right there and he wasn't sure he could control it. 

"What the hell is it then?"

"He's my ex." Brian replied by way of an explanation.

"Does Justin know that?" 

"Yah." Brian's words were almost inaudible.

"Did you break up with him last night?" Anthony drew his own conclusions. He couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it sooner.

"No."

"So you're cheating on him again?"

"No." 

"What the fuck, Brian!?!" Anthony exploded.

"We're just having breakfast." Brian knew that it looked bad, and his excuses sounded weak, but they were all he had. 

"And you just happened to cuddle up to him?" Anthony wanted to understand so that he could relay Brian’s explanation to Justin. He’d seen the pained expression on his friend’s face and wanted more than anything to make it go away. 

“He cuddled up to me.” Brian said defensively. “I… I have to go.” Brian turned and walked out of the diner without looking back. He didn’t care that he was leaving Jamie alone. 

***

Late that afternoon Justin was curled up in a ball on his bed crying. He couldn’t believe that he’d seen Brian cuddled up to Jamie. Sure, they hadn’t had a good time the previous night, but that was no reason for Brian to immediately cheat on him… again. 

~Ring, Ring~

“Hello?” Justin sniffled.

“Justin…”

“What do you want?” Justin struggled not to cry when he heard Brian say his name. “Shouldn’t you be out screwing your ex or something?”

“I’m not sleeping with Jamie.”

“Yet.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? You don’t trust me?”

“Have you given me reason to?” Justin challenged. 

“I thought you knew how I felt about you. Apparently, I was wrong.” Brian took a deep breath. “I don’t want to end things, Justin. We just need to talk.”

“Is there anything left to say?”

“Yes! Lot’s. You have to let me explain about Jamie.”

“Come over.” Justin relented. He didn’t want things to end either so he decided that if talking might give them a chance, he would do it. 

“I can’t right now. I’m supposed to pick Michael up for dinner.” Brian wondered if, by going to dinner with Michael, he was losing his shot at keeping Justin.

“After then.” Justin was angry that Michael was more important to Brian than he was, but he was still determined to give it another chance.

“Okay.” Brian felt hopeful. “I should be there around eight.”

“Okay. Bye.” Justin hung up the phone and started crying again. 

***

“Hey, J.” Anthony said, sitting down next to Justin on the couch as he and Nathan arrived at the apartment. He quickly kissed his friend’s cheek and took his hand. “How you doing?”

“I feel like someone kicked me in the face.” Justin admitted, turning and cuddling against his friend. 

“I really don’t think he was doing anything, J.” Anthony smoothed his friend’s hair. “I talked to him after you left.”

“Are you taking his side now?”

“I’m always on your side, you know that. And that being said, I know that Brian makes you happy. And you make him happy.” He spoke gently. “I think you two need to take some time to talk. Let him explain.”

“He’s coming over after he has dinner with Michael.” Justin sniffled. “He went out to Michael instead of coming here to fix things. Still think he deserves another chance?”

“Michael’s his best friend, Justin.” Anthony explained. “Even though things haven’t been good with them lately, he still needs his friends.”

“But today?”

“Today more than anything. He’s a fucking mess. You can’t blame him for needing someone to talk to. Someone who isn’t the boyfriend who’s mad at him.” 

“I guess.” Justin grumbled.

“Listen, Nate and I are gunna go and hang out in my room. If you need anything, someone to talk to or a hug or anything, just come and get me.” Anthony stood, kissing Justin’s forehead as he rose. 

“I will.” Justin turned and stared off into space.

***

“Are you still with Justin?” It was apparent that Michael was still mad at Brian for the whole Justin situation. 

“I don’t know.” Brian replied moodily.

“You look like shit. What happened?”

“I think Justin is in love with Anthony. Jamie came back last night.” Brian looked at his friend, his eyes watery. “Everything is completely fucked.”

“Jamie came back? Did you fuck him?” Michael was amazed.

“No, I didn’t fuck him. I saw him at Babylon last night.” Brian took a deep breath. “And then he called me this morning and I went to the diner with him. When we walked in, he put his arm around me and Justin was there with Ant and his boyfriend.” 

“Ant has a boyfriend?” 

“Yes. Can we please focus on me? My life is a fucking mess.” Brian was really stressed and the thing he needed the most was for Michael to be there for him.

“I’m just trying to understand that soap opera that is your life.” Michael grinned, trying to lighten the mood. “Let me get this straight. Justin is in love with Anthony, who has a new boyfriend? And now Jamie is back and he wants you, and Justin is pissed at you?”

“That’s about it.” 

“You don’t need any of it. Tell Jamie to fuck off, break up with Justin, cut yourself off from the both of them.” Michael’s answered seemed so simple. Except for one thing.

“I love him, Mikey.” 

“Who? Jamie? I thought that was over a long time ago.” Michael could be so clueless sometimes.

“No, Mikey. I love Justin.” Brian pinched his nose to try and relieve the pressure that was building up there. “So that makes the get rid of both of ‘em plan a little less simple.”

“You’ll get over it.” Michael shrugged.

“I don’t want to get over it, Mikey. I want to be with Justin.” Brian sounded pained. Michael suddenly got angry.

“Well, Brian, Justin is messing with you. Obviously if he has feelings for Anthony, he doesn’t have feelings for you.” Michael replied harshly. “Just because you love him doesn’t mean he’s going to love you back. Didn’t you learn that with Jamie?”

“That’s not really what I was looking for Mikey.” Brian sighed.

“You always tell the truth, but you don’t want me to? You want me to tell you that everything is going to be okay when it’s not?” Michael spat.

“Listen, Mikey, forget it.” Brian pushed his fingers through his hair roughly. “I don’t wanna talk about it with you.”

“I just have one more thing to say.” Michael captured Brian’s attention and held his gaze. “You’re so much better than Justin deserves. Let him have Anthony. You know he’ll be happier that way.”

“Enough.” Brian felt like he was on the verge of breaking down and he didn’t want to do that, not in public, not in front of Michael.

***

Justin grabbed his sketchbook and started drawing. He needed something to take his attention away from the fact that it was almost nine o’clock and Brian hadn’t called. He didn’t understand how Brian could just take off with Michael after what had happened that morning. That, compounded with the fact that instead of staying out in the living room comforting him, Anthony was in his room making out with Nathan.

~Ring, Ring~

“Hello?” Justin answered.

“Hey.” Brian sounded distant.

“Hey.” 

“Listen, can our talk wait until tomorrow? I’m really tired and I don’t feel like getting into it right now.” Brian was telling the truth. After he dropped Michael off, Brian had just started driving and he wasn’t in the mood to get into the relationship talk with Justin.

“Fine. Whatever.” Justin wished he could say more, wished he could explode and tell Brian how he really felt, but instead he just agreed. “Bye.”

“Bye.” Brian breathed before laying down the phone.


	16. Chapter 16

Brian slipped out of his bedroom and made his way to the kitchen. He'd barely slept a wink all night, trying to figure out what to do about Justin. He was starting to wonder whether Mikey was right, whether he should just cut his losses and push Justin out of his life. 

"Well, darlin', you sure look like shit this morning." Daphne said as he poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down across from her.

"My life is falling apart, but other than that I'm just peachy." Brian drank down his entire mug of coffee in one gulp.

"Spill."

"I don't want to talk about it." Brian ground out.

"Something happen with Justin?" Daphne assumed that the only thing that could have her friend that fired up was his adorable blond boyfriend.

"I don't know what's going on with him." Brian admitted. "Ant got himself a boyfriend and suddenly he's the most important thing in Justin's life. And Jamie came back."

"What??!! Did you fuck him?"

"Why does everyone assume that... You... Mikey... Justin apparently." Brian roughly pushed his fingers through his hair.

"Well, Justin wasn't there, and I don't know what you told him. But, Bri, Michael and I were there and we saw how you were with him. You never could say no to him. And when he left, you were a fucking mess." Daphne said. 

"Well, I got over it."

"Yah, by becoming him. You stopped believing in all the things that he told you didn't exist." Daphne frowned.

"Yah? Well, Justin changed that." Brian sighed.

"So what's the problem?" 

"I went out for breakfast with Jamie yesterday. He had his arm around me and Justin saw." He rubbed at his jaw. "You should have seen the look on his face. It was like I killed his dog or something."

"You broke his heart." Daphne shook her head. "Have you talked to him?"

"Yah, on the phone. I was supposed to go over there last night, but..."

"But what? Are you trying to lose him?"

"Maybe that would make things easier." Brian's shoulder's slumped.

"When the hell did you turn into such a fucking pussy?" Daphne exploded. "I've seen you with him, I've seen how you talk about him... You love him, Bri."

"So?" Brian countered. "Maybe love just isn't for me."

"That's such bullshit!" Daphne stood and went over to him. Looking down at him she said, "Fix it, Brian, or you're not the guy I thought you were."

"Why can't you just stay out of it, Daph? Why do you always have to put in your two cents?"

"Because I don't want to see my friend lose the only thing that's made him happy in the last three years!" Daphne turned and walked away, but stopped at the doorway. "Stop sabotaging the good things in your life or you'll end up some miserable old queen who has no one." With that, she was gone.

Brian folded his arms on the table and lay his head down on top of them. He started to wonder whether he really had been sabotaging the good things in his life.

***

"Justin, you have to get out of bed." Anthony said as he sat down next to his friend. Justin had been lying his bed for two days straight. He was waiting for Brian to call and it seemed like that call was never going to come.

"Go be with your boyfriend." Justin snapped, turning away from Anthony. 

"This isn't healthy, J."

"Fuck healthy!" Justin exploded with fire in his eyes. "And fuck you!"

"Don't take this out on me." Anthony said evenly. "If you want him, call him and make a fucking effort."

"No." Justin said firmly. "He said he was going to call. If he still wants me, then he can call me."

"Come on, I'm taking you out." 

"I. Don't. Want. To. Go. Out." Justin ground out.

"So that's it? You lost Brian, so you're just going to shrivel up and die?"

"I lost you, too." Justin suddenly didn't look angry anymore, he looked empty and alone.

"You didn't lose me, J. I'm right here."

"You have Nathan now." Justin looked really beaten. "Suddenly you're not mine anymore."

"Justin, pretty much the whole time we've been friends there's been someone in your life. Someone you were in love with. There was Chris, and then there was Jonny, and now Brian." Anthony was struggling to comprehended what his friend was telling him. "Just because I have someone now doesn't mean that things are going to change with us."

"They already have. You were always the one living the fast life, with a different trick all the time. I was your constant. Like you said, we were like boyfriends, but without the sex. Now, I'm just another friend." Justin pouted.

"That's so unfair." Anthony turned away. "It's fine for you to have someone, but as soon as I meet someone who has all the things that I'm looking for, you freak out on me?"

"That's not how it is."

"Then how is it?" Anthony stood and started pacing. 

"I have feelings for you."

"How can you pull this shit on me now, J? When I finally have a boyfriend!"

"Maybe it took you finding someone for me to realize it."

"Or maybe it took Brian screwing up again and me having to split my time between you and my boyfriend for you to realize it. How can you be so selfish?"

"Ant..." Justin plead.

"Justin, stop!" Anthony exclaimed. "Nate makes me happy."

"I used to make you happy."

"Well, maybe being your shoulder to cry on and your court jester wasn't enough for me anymore."

"Is that all you think you were?" Justin felt a tear slide down his cheek.  
"Listen, J, I love you man. You're my best friend and one of the most important people in my life, but you're not the only person. I really like Nate, and I want to give it a try. You and I... Well, maybe we had our chance and we missed it." Anthony sat down and took Justin's hand. "I love him, J."

"You do?" Justin's voice was barely a whisper.

"Yah." Anthony closed his eyes. "I need for you to be happy for me."

"I... I'm sorry I've been such a shit." Justin grabbed his friend and hugged him close. "Promise me that I'll only have to share you. Promise I won't lose you for good."

"Promise." Anthony felt like a weight had been lifted. "One more thing?"

"Of course."

"Could you try to like him? He's so great. He's a lot like you, actually." 

"I don't think it'll be hard to like him. I actually had to try pretty hard to hate him." Justin laughed softly. "Will you two take me out tonight and get me good and drunk?"

"Absolutely!" Anthony stood and helped Justin to his feet. "As long as you shower, you fucking reek!"

***

~ring, ring~

"Hello?" Brian answered hopefully. He had been waiting to hear from Justin, feeling like he needed his boyfriend to make the first move in this situation.

"Don't you sound like an anxious little puppy." Brian was disappointed to hear Jamie's voice coming through the phone. "How ya been, babe? Haven't heard from you in a few days."

"And you didn't think that I maybe didn't want to talk to you?" Brian sneered, his only thought being that Justin was probably going to call and get a busy signal.

"I'd never think that, baby. I know that you still want me." Jamie's arrogance was starting to get to Brian, but he bit his tongue. "So, I was thinking that you and I could go out to Babylon tonight and make some boys jealous."

"I don't want to see you, Jamie." Brian said firmly.

"Are you still maudlin over that blond twinkie?"

"His name is Justin."

"God, Brian, the kid dumped you. Get over it!" Jamie was getting impatient. "Listen, put on something sexy. You and I are going to go and stir up things at Babylon. A few drinks and you'll forget all about what's his name. There's nothing that a little Beam and a hot fuck can't cure."

"What time with you be here?" Brian found himself asking. He couldn't believe that he still hadn't learned to say no to his ex.

"Half an hour. Make yourself beautiful in that time, I don't want to be seen with a little ragamuffin." 

"And you used to tell me that I looked beautiful no matter what I was wearing, or how my hair was." Brian snapped.

"Awww... You actually believed my sweet nothings. That's so adorably naive, Bri." The tone of Jamie's voice made the insult sound even worse. "Listen, I have to go. I'll be there in half an hour."

"Bye." Brian hung up and wondered what the hell he was doing. He knew that he should be picking up the phone and calling Justin to try and fix things, but he couldn't make himself do it. There was a little part of him that kept telling him that he didn't deserve Justin, that maybe Justin would be happier with Anthony.

***

"Hey, Justin." Nathan said with a smile as he entered the apartment, dressed for Babylon. 

"Hey, Nathan." Justin smiled genuinely. In the couple of hours since his talk with Anthony, he'd figured out a few things. He'd realized that the feelings he'd thought he had for Anthony were nothing but his mind's messed up projection of his fear of losing him. He also discovered that he loved Brian more than anything.

"You look really good tonight. You'll have so many guys hitting on you." Nathan smiled sweetly and Justin was surprised when he saw that Nathan was completely genuine.

"I'm not interested right now, but it's always kinda nice to get hit on." Justin smiled weakly and set about putting his shoes on.

"So, where's my man?"

"Primping." Justin chuckled. "One thing that you'll learn about him is that he can out primp any girl. He's such a mirror queen."

"I heard that, you little bitch." Anthony called from the bathroom. "I just wasn't born with the perfect hair and skin like you two."

"Stop fishing for compliments!" Nathan laughed, getting into the teasing. "You know you're gorgeous." 

"I knew there was a reason I was keeping you around." Anthony smiled as he entered the room. Seeing the way he looked at Nathan, Justin was finally able to be happy for his friend. 

"If I didn't know better, I might actually believe that." Nathan tipped his face up for a kiss and Anthony gladly obliged.

"Ok, you two, can you cool it with the lovey dovey? I just got dumped, you know." Justin was only half serious. There was actually something about seeing his friend in love that made him feel better about his situation.

"If we have to listen to you whine all night, I'm gunna turn this little expedition around and go home." Anthony teased. He slipped an arm around Justin and kept the other around his boyfriend. "And I really don't want to do that because I'm going to have the two hottest guys there on my arm."

"Don't start entertaining ideas of a three way." Nathan warned with a chuckle. "I don't share."

"And I don't wanna to touch your hairy ass with a ten foot pole."

"I'm started to regret introducing you two." Anthony led them out of the apartment. "I didn't get any rest from the teasing between the two of you before, but now I'm getting double teamed."

"And you love it." Justin chuckled. He was actually starting to loosen up and forget about the fact that his heart was in a million pieces. It was actually pretty nice to just be able to go out and have fun. I just hope Brian isn't there, he thought to himself.

***

"You clean up nice, baby." Jamie said. He was leaning against his Jeep as Brian stepped out of the building. "I knew you wouldn't embarrass me."

"Can we go?" Brian asked stiffly.

"If we're going to have fun tonight, you're going to have to loosen up." Jamie grinned. "Don't loosen up too much though, I want that ass to be nice and tight for me later."

"I never said I would fuck you, Jamie."

"Neither did I." Jamie grinned. "I said that I was going to fuck you."

"Not going to happen." Brian said firmly. He was determined to say no to Jamie when it came to anything sexual happening between the two of them. There was no way he was going to fall into the same trap as he had before.

"We'll see." Jamie winked and moved over to the drivers side of the jeep. 

"Why do you even want me?" Brian asked as they drove towards Babylon. "I mean, you've had me. A lot."

"And you were one of the best fucks I ever had."

"Still wasn't enough for you." Brian snapped, regretting his words immediately.

"Oh, tell me you're not still sore about that!" Jamie shook his head. "I thought I had cured you of your little drama princess ways."

"I'm not still sore." Brian protested. "I was just calling your bullshit."

"Listen, honey, we both know that I could have any guy at Babylon that I wanted. You used to be proud to be the one on my arm. What happened to that?"

"Maybe there's someone else whose arm I want to be on." 

"The blond again?" Jamie shook his head. "Jesus, Bri, when will you learn. Love isn't real. What you're feeling for the twink is a mixture of lust and the need to feel something that you see in the movies."

"How did I end up ever being with someone so cynical." It was more a statement than a question and Brian turned to look out the window and consider his words. 

***

"It's insane in here tonight!" Nathan exclaimed with a smile as he, Anthony, and Justin stepped into the crowded club. He was right, the club was even more packed than usual.

"Let's get a drink." Justin suggested. He wasn't sure how he was going to feel being in the club and thought that maybe if he had a drink or two, he would feel a little more comfortable.

"Don't get too crazy tonight, J." Anthony said, seeing the look on his friend's face. He'd seen it before and he'd also seen the drunken spectacle that it led to.

"I'll be fine, Ant." Justin forced a smile before ordering a double JD.

"Getting reacquainted with your old friend so early?" Anthony asked biting his lip. He knew that he'd have to keep an eye on Justin for the rest of the night.  
"Stop being such a mother, Ant." Justin laughed, throwing back his drink in one gulp.

"It's going to be a long night, isn't it?" Nathan asked his boyfriend, making sure his voice wasn't loud enough for Justin to hear.

"The Brian thing really has him tied in knots. I think he wants to untie them by getting completely blitzed." Anthony replied, keeping his arm around Nate. "I'll make it up to you later."

"I'll count on it." Nathan smiled.

***

"Come dance with me, Babe." Jamie said as soon as he and Brian entered Babylon. "I want everyone to know that you're mine tonight."

"I'm not yours. I do what I want." Brian snapped. "And I have a boyfriend, remember?"

"Oh yah? So where is he?" When Brian didn't answer, Jamie grabbed Brian's arm and led him towards the dance floor.

"What if I want a drink?" Brian asked as Jamie began moving sensuously against him.

"Do you?" Jamie reached behind Brian's head and pulled him close for a deep kiss. "Didn't think so." He chuckled. "Besides, I've got something better." He pulled out a couple of small white pills and after swallowing one himself, he put another on his tongue and pulled Brian in for another kiss.

Brian pulled away swiftly. He didn't trust Jamie's drugs. "Spit that shit out, because I sure as hell don't want any."

"What a fucking waste." Jamie spat the pill onto the floor and began grinding against Brian once again. "Would have made what we're going to be doing later so much hotter."

Brian wasn't paying attention. He locked eyes across the dance floor with a familiar pair of blue eyes and he winced. He was about to move away from Jamie and towards Justin when Jamie stopped him and pulled him close for another kiss. After pulling away from Jamie, Brian searched the crowd for Justin, but he couldn't find him. 

"Fuck, I guess it really is over." He said to himself, barely even hearing his words in the loud club.


	17. Chapter 17

"Are you okay?" Anthony asked when he found Justin standing in the corner of the washroom. "I saw him out there with Jamie."

"I guess it's really over." Justin's shoulders shook as he started to cry. Anthony wrapped his arms around his friend and tried to curb the urge to kill the guy that hurt him. "I should have guessed it would happen as soon as I found out that Jamie was back. But I guess I figured that he loved me enough..."

"Don't worry, J. You'll find someone who's so much better for you than Brian Kinney." Anthony said soothingly, trying to calm his friend. 

"He made me feel so..." Justin broke out into sobs again. "After that time he was here tricking after the shit with Michael, I really thought he and I would be able to make it, you know?"

"I know, babe." Anthony could feel his friend's heart breaking and wanted more than anything to be able to shield him from it. 

"I thought he was different. I thought he wanted to be different with me." Justin sniffled and laid his head on Anthony's chest. Once he'd calmed down, he pulled out of Anthony's arms and looked up at him. "I'm gunna go call a cab. You and Nathan stay here and have fun, okay?"

"Are you sure?" Anthony wasn't sure whether Justin should be alone.

"One hundred percent." Justin replied with a half smile. "You have an adorable boyfriend who's probably being hit on left and right. Go out there, show him a good time, and then bring him back to the apartment and fuck him silly. I'll wear my disc man to bed." 

Anthony grinned and leaned over to kiss Justin on the cheek. He was incredibly relieved that his friendship with Justin wasn't suffering from permanent weirdness after their talk that afternoon. "You sure you don't want me to come out and wait with you for your cab?"

"Nah!" Justin hugged him one last time. "Go make sure you still have a boyfriend, I'll be fine." He tried to look confident as he made his way out of the bathroom and out of the club. As soon as he got to the curb, he broke down and started sobbing. He quickly called a cab and waited for it to arrive, crying the whole time.

***

"You sure you don't want one of my little friends?" Jamie asked Brian, holding up another one of the little pills. He had every intention of getting Brian into bed that night, and he was sure that a little E would help him get there.

"Yah." Brian relented, taking the pill from Jamie's fingers. He slipped it into his mouth and closed his eyes, intent of forgetting that Justin Taylor ever existed.

"That's my boy." Jamie grinned ferally and began moving more aggressively against Brian. He was pleased when he felt Brian moving against him as well. "Mmm... My baby's back." Jamie slipped his hands around to Brian's ass, roughly pulling him closer.

"I'm not your anything." Brian insisted, starting to feel the effects of the little pill that he had taken from Jamie. 

"Don't deny it, baby. You were always hotter than shit for me." Jamie moved down and starting biting Brian's neck gently. 

"Fuck that." Brian pulled away. "I need a drink." He pushed his way through the crowd of writhing bodies and stopped when he reached the bar.

"Well, hello, gorgeous." Emmett said as he sashayed up to Brian, casually wrapping an arm around his waist. "Where's Justin tonight?"

"He was here. Now he's not. Fucked if I know where he is." Brian replied as he signaled the bartender for a bottle of water. As much as he felt like getting drunk, he knew that after the pill he'd taken, he'd need to keep hydrated.

"Trouble in paradise?" Emmett raised an eyebrow.

"More like paradise lost." Brian sneered.

"So that's why you're out there letting that creep paw at you? Or is that why paradise was lost?" Emmett was nothing if not perceptive.

"How is that your business?"

"Honey, I watched you and Justin together. I saw what you two felt for each other. Don't tell me that you're giving that up in favor of some slick asshole who wants nothing more than a quick fuck!"

"I didn't give anything up." Brian protested. "Why does it have to be someone's fault when a relationship ends? And why can't people look past the fact that Justin looks like an innocent twelve year old and perhaps wonder if maybe it was his fault?"

"Was it?"

"Fuck. You."

"So it wasn't then." Emmett pursed his lips. "So you broke his heart."

"It wasn't mine to break." Brian said regretfully before downing his water and walking back out to the dance floor. He figured, if nothing else, spending the evening dancing with his ex would make him forget about Justin for a few hours.

***

"Why didn't you do something?" Lindsay asked. Justin had called her, said he needed a friend, and now they were sitting in his living room together.

"What could I do? Obviously he picked Jamie." Justin looked defeated. Lindsay had never seen him look so sad, not even after what happened with Chris.

"Did you ask him?" Lindsay countered.

"He hadn't called me in two days. And then I see him at Babylon with his gorgeous, successful ex-boyfriend. Do you really think that I have to ask?" Justin looked like he was ready to cry again.

"You need to talk to him, Justin. Things can't have changed for him so quickly." Lindsay wanted more than anything to see her friend as happy as he'd been with Brian.

"There's something I never told you." Justin bit his lip.

"Uh oh."

"When Ant started dating Nathan, I kinda freaked. I thought I was in love with Ant and I was basically treating Brian like shit. And then Jamie came back." Justin sighed and closed his eyes. "It's all my fucking fault."

"It's not your fault that Brian is a fucking coward who can't face things with you." Lindsay stomped her foot. "I say you go over to his place and rip him a new asshole."

"Where the hell did you learn that phrase?" Justin laughed for the first time since seeing Brian and Jamie dancing together.

"At the diner. That Debbie woman was yelling at one of the waiters when he flipped her attitude and she told him if he tried that shit again, she'd rip him a new asshole." Lindsay giggled. "So that's what I think you should do to Brian."

"I think I should just try to forget that he exists." Justin sighed. "And I should definitely not move on from him as quickly as I moved on from Jonny." 

"Good idea." Lindsay wrapped an arm around him and smiled. "Now, what do you say we get in my car, go to the video store, getting the funniest movie we can find, and then come back here to watch it and eat butt loads of ice cream?"

"Thanks, Linds." Justin reached up and wrapped his arms around the blonde in a tight hug. "I love you."

"Love you too, baby J." Lindsay smiled and hugged him back. 

***

Anthony and Nathan were walking towards the exit, intent on getting back to the apartment and getting their fuck on, when someone bumped into them. Anthony looked up, instinctively about to apologize, but stopped himself when he saw that it was Brian who bumped into him.

"What the fuck, Kinney!" He exclaimed, his anger over what Brian had done to Justin overtaking him.

"Sorry." Brian mumbled, turning to walk away.

"Wait a fucking minute!" Anthony practically screamed. "What's this shit you pulled with Justin? He laid around the apartment for two fucking days waiting for you to call and then he finds you here, you fucking coward!"

"I didn't mean to…"

"You didn't mean to what? To break his fucking heart?" Anthony raged. "Well, you fucking did!"

"Can you… can you tell him that I'm sorry if I hurt him?" Brian didn't know what else to say.

"Tell him your fucking self! He deserves at least that, don't you think? He at least deserves to hear it from you that you don't want him anymore!" 

"Ant, we should just go." Nathan said, gently placing his hand on his boyfriend's arm. He could see that Anthony was furious and he didn't want him to get into a fight.

"I … I can't." Brian's voice broke. 

"You're nothing but a coward and a loser, Kinney." Anthony pushed Nathan's hand away. "You hurt him, the least you can do is go and talk to him. He's fucking devastated."

"So why don't you go comfort him. He always runs to you anyways." Brian snapped. 

"He doesn't want me to comfort him, Brian." Anthony was getting frustrated. "He only wants you. And since you're throwing him away like he's trash, he at least deserves an apology."

"I'm not throwing him away!" Brian exclaimed. "I don't know how to fix things."

"So you thought that hooking up with your ex instead of fixing things was the way to go? How fucked up are you?"

"Ant, let's go." Nathan said again.

"Fine." Anthony shook his head. "Kinney, you had better fucking talk to him." With that, Anthony slung his arm around Nathan's shoulders and the two of them left the club.

Brian watched them disappear into the crowd and wished that he had the courage to go and apologize to Justin. He was lost in thought and didn't even notice Jamie approach. When the older man wrapped his arms around him from behind, Brian flinched and pulled away.

"Not trying to sneak away, are you?" Jamie purred. 

"What the fuck do you want from me?" Brian exploded, whirling around to face Jamie.

"You know exactly what I want from you." Jamie grinned. "I want you on your back with your legs on my shoulders and my cock so deep in your ass that you don't know where you end and I begin."

"How many times do I have to say no before you understand?" Brian demanded. "I don't want you! Why is it so difficult for you to get that?"

"You do want me, you just don't realize it. The little blond put those naïve love ideas back in your head." Jamie was so cocky that it made Brian sick. He put his hands on the back of Brian's head and attempted to pull him in for a kiss.

"No, the little blond made me realize that all the shit you fed me was just that. Shit." Brian pushed Jamie's hands away. "I don't want you. Deal with it." 

"Brian, baby," Jamie was almost pleading, "I need you."

"No, you need someone to worship you because after you cast me off you had no one to idolize you." Brian spat bitterly. "Well, guess what, Jamie, you're not God. You're not even much of a man." With that, Brian turned and walked out of the club. He knew that he wouldn't be hearing from Jamie anytime soon. If there was one thing Jamie hated, it was a man who had a mind of his own.

***  
"Hey, Linds." Anthony said when he and Nathan ran into the blond in the hallway outside their apartment. "What're you doing here?"

"Justin called me. He was a fucking mess." Lindsay looked worried. "He was really tired. I left him sleeping on the couch."

"That fucking Kinney did a number on him." Anthony felt the anger rise up in him again. He felt like he hadn't protected Justin well enough.

"I've never seen him like this. He must have really fallen hard and fast for Brian." Lindsay sighed.

"Yup, he sure did." Anthony shook his head. "Makes me want to kill that fucking bastard for hurting Justin that way."

"Calm down, baby." Nathan said soothingly. He was a little afraid of what Anthony would do in the state he was in.

"Thanks, doll." Anthony pulled Nathan closer. "Let's just go to bed. Night, Linds." 

"Night, guys." Lindsay gave a small wave as she made her way to the elevator, watching as her friend led his boyfriend into the apartment.

***

~knock, knock~

Justin groaned before rolling off the couch and stumbling over to the door. He was sore from the position on the couch and wondering who would be at his door at 2am. He wasn't sure how to feel when he opened the door and found Brian standing there.

"Hey." Brian said quietly. When Justin didn't respond, he continued. "Can we talk?"

"What's left to say?"

"I'm sorry." Brian bit his lip.

"Ok, you've said it. Will it help you sleep better now?" Justin was hurt and that hurt was manifesting itself into intense anger.

"Justin, that's not all I wanted to say." He paused. "Can I come in?"

"Fine." Justin sighed and let Brian into the apartment. He was surprised when Brian moved into his bedroom and gestured for him to follow. "What, you want to fuck me now?"

"That's not why I'm here." Brian said softly. 

"That's right, you have Jamie for that now." Justin snapped.

"I don't have Jamie for anything." Brian said firmly, finally looking Justin directly in the eyes. "What you saw tonight… It wasn't what you think."

"So you weren't dancing with your ex at Babylon after not calling me for the last two days?" Justin countered.

"That's what happened. It's the motivation that you're wrong about." Brian took a deep breath and looked down at his hands. "I never wanted Jamie back."

"So then why all this shit? If it wasn't for me catching you with him twice, everything would be completely fine with us." Justin knew it wasn't true, but it was easier for him to blame it all on Brian.

"You and I both know that's not true." Brian reached out and took Justin's hand, pulling him to sit next to him on the bed. "As soon as you found out that Nathan was more than a trick to Ant, it was like I didn't even exist."

"So you did it to get even with me?"

"I didn't do anything, Justin." Brian's voice was pleading. "I went to breakfast and Babylon with Jamie, that's it. I told him to fuck off for good tonight."

"So why didn't you phone me?" Justin felt the anger fading and only felt the ache in the pit of his stomach.

"I didn't know what to say. I'm so tied up in knots right now, J. I don't know what to do about anything." Brian's voice broke half was through the last sentence.

"You couldn't have called and just said that? You had to leave me waiting for you to call? You had to leave me thinking that I meant nothing?" Justin felt a tear slip down his cheek and was ashamed that he was letting himself break down in front of Brian.

"You mean everything." Brian looked like he was going to cry any moment. "And it scared the shit out of me."

"So, what now?" Justin couldn't believe he was even asking. His mind was telling him to throw Brian out and tell him that he'd lost his chance completely, but his heart was telling him to grab Brian and hold on forever.

"I don't know." Brian said truthfully.

"Maybe we should just end it." Justin couldn't believe that he was actually saying those words, his heart was screaming for him to take it back.

"If that's what you want…" Brian tried to be strong, even though he felt like he was dying inside.

"I think it would be best." Justin tried to keep his voice even, knowing that the slightest waver would make him break down.

"I love you, Justin." Brian turned and wrapped his arms around Justin, not quite ready to let go. "Remember that, ok?"

"I love you, too."

Then why are we ending this? Why are we letting it slip away? Brian's mind screamed for him to stop this, to make sure that Justin didn't get away, but he just couldn't find the words. 

They walked hand in hand to the door, neither of them willing to give up that contact just yet. When they got there, Justin turned to look at Brian and found him looking down at him. They stared at each other for impossibly long moments before Justin shifted his gaze and pulled his hand from Brian's.

"Good-bye, Bri." He said softly. 

"Bye, Jus." Brian bit his lip. "Don't let anyone ever tell you that you aren't beautiful." He whispered before brushing a soft kiss on Justin's lips and then turning to hurry down the hall. 

"Ditto." Justin whispered, but Brian couldn't hear him. As he closed the door, his body finally lost the strength he had been fighting for ever since he'd told Brian that he thought they should end it and he crumpled to the floor.


	18. Chapter 18

Justin stared up at the ceiling, lost in thought. It had been two months since things with Brian had ended. Things. That's the only way he could think of to describe what he and Brian had shared. It had all happened so fast, going from blissful to miserable in a matter of days, hours even. Two Months. He still couldn't get the brunette out of his head. Every time he closed his eyes, Brian was there. And every time he saw Brian in his head, it was the memory of the hurt look on his face the night Justin had ended things. 

He'd seen Brian a handful of times since, walking on campus with Daphne or hurrying to a class, but had otherwise studiously avoided him. Seeing the guy he was so wrapped up in that it hurt, was too much for him. He wondered why he hadn't felt that way with Jonny, or even Chris who he'd believed was the only person in the world for him. 

Two months.

It seemed like no time had passed at all. Like a zombie, Justin went through the motions. His days were filled with classes and long hours in his room drawing. The color seemed to have drained from his life and nothing was brilliant anymore.

"Justin." Anthony's arrival at his door roused Justin from his thoughts and he tore his eyes away from the ceiling to look at his best friend.

"Hey, Ant." Justin smiled weakly and gestured Anthony to come in and sit down.

"Pondering the meaning of life again?" Anthony teased. The only way he could stop himself from getting into yet another discussion about what happened with Brian, and how Justin should take some action and get Brian back was to tease him playfully. 

"Not today." Justin sighed. "What's up?"

"You're gunna make yourself pretty and come out to Babylon with us tonight. It's Nathan's birthday and he wants you there to celebrate with us. Linds is going to be there, Emmett from the diner and his new boy toy, and a few of the guys from the restaurant." Anthony smiled, hoping it would be infectious.

"Babylon?" Justin looked like a deer in the headlights.

"You're scared he'll be there."

"I don't want to see him, Ant. It's too hard." Justin sighed again. "Why doesn't Nathan come over a little earlier so I can wish him a happy birthday and we can hang out a little here?"

"Because he wants you to come to Babylon with us. And so do I. It's time you got out of this place for something other than school. You're starting to turn the same color as the walls. Pretty soon, you'll just become one of them." Anthony said firmly. 

"Ant…"

"Listen, J, you and I both know that there's a chance that Brian will be there tonight, though I haven't seen him there since the night…" Anthony let his voice trail off, feeling stupid for bringing up the night Brian and Justin had called it quits.

"The night it ended." Justin said sadly. "You can say it, Ant. I'm all too aware that it happened."

"You have to stop beating yourself up about this. You're the one who ended it. He hurt you. End of story." Anthony decided that it was time to stop coddling Justin.

"What if I see him?"

"What if I get hit by a bus. We have to take chances or nothing will ever happen." Anthony threw an arm around his friend. "Besides, Brian's graduating in a few days. If you see him tonight, you'll probably never have to see him again."

"Fine, I'll come." Justin relented.

"Awesome. Be ready by ten-thirty sharp!" Ant kissed his friend on the cheek before disappearing from the room.

***

"Only a few more days." Brian said with a small smile as he and Daphne sat in their kitchen having coffee. "Can you believe we're actually graduating?"

"I can't believe that I'm starting medical school in a few months." Daphne shook her head. "And I'm not going to see you everyday anymore. I was just starting to get to know the new Brian."

"The new Brian?" He raised an eyebrow.

"You've changed a lot in the last couple of months, Mr. Kinney." Daphne smiled. She'd watched him change. It had started the night he met Justin, accelerated the night he and Justin broke up, and had been progressing steadily every since.

"How so?" Brian didn't want to admit it, but he felt different as well.

"You're not out making the rounds on Liberty or around campus anymore. You're not as concerned with appearances or whatever. You're calmer." Daphne listed the three main things that had changed about her friend.

"I realized that I didn't want to turn into Jamie, I guess." Brian shrugged. 

"I'm proud of you, babe." Daphne smiled. "I like this new Brian more than I liked the old one." 

"I don't know whether to be complimented or insulted." Brian chuckled. "So I'm going to tell myself that was a compliment and leave it at that."

"It was." Daphne paused. "Are you going to talk to him before we move?" Brian knew exactly which "him" Daphne was talking about.

"I don't know yet." Brian shrugged. "I don't know if there's anything left to say."

"How about that you love him?" Daphne suggested as though it was obvious.

"Didn't change anything the night we broke up." Brian looked sad. "All it would do now is make me feel like a fool."

"So you're just going to move on? Without any closure?"

"I got all the closure I need. He dumped me, Daph." It was the first time that Brian had been able to say those words out loud. "It'll be better once we graduate. I won't have to see him on campus."

"You sure you don't want to see him?"

"It'll only make it worse." Needing to change the subject, Brian grinned. "The time has come to talk of other things… Of shoes and ships and sealing wax… Of cabbages and kings."

"Cute, Kinney, very cute." Daphne said with a laugh. She loved when Brian said goofy things, like that line from The Walrus and The Carpenter.

"You wanna be a good little fag hag and come to Babylon with me tonight? One last hurrah while I can still call myself a student?" Brian suggested with a wink. He wanted to downplay the fact that he hadn't gone to Babylon since the night he and Justin broke up.

"Promise to buy me a drink?" Daphne raised an eyebrow.

"I'll buy you a couple." Brian grinned. "Tonight we celebrate the fact that we made it through four years at this place."

"And how." Daphne smiled as well.

***

"Happy Birthday, Nate." Justin said with a smile, hugging Ant's boyfriend from behind. "You're a big boy now." Justin was finding it a little difficult to be in the club again, but kept telling himself that it meant a lot to Nathan and Anthony that he was there.

"Awww, thanks, J." Nathan laughed. 

"Hey, Justin, it's a blast from your past." Anthony said nodding towards the railing only about 10 feet away. Justin turned, expecting to see Brian, and was surprised to see Jonny.

"Whoa, haven't seen him in a while." Justin wondered whether he should feel weird seeing his ex, but really was having trouble feeling anything at all concerning Jonny. "Maybe I should go over there and say hey."

"If you want." Anthony shrugged. He wondered how it was possible that Justin was with Jonny for a year and was completely okay going over and talking to him, yet he was terrified to even see Brian, who he was only with for a matter of weeks.

"I think I will." Justin grabbed his drink off the bar and walked over to Jonny, who looked a little startled to see him. "Hey," he said with a small smile, hoping that it wasn't awkward.

"Hey, Justin. Long time, no see." Jonny seemed a little nervous. "How've you been?"

"I've been well." Justin lied. He didn't want to get into a conversation about Brian. "How about you? Keeping busy?"

"Oh yah, things are crazy. I'm just relieved that finals are over. Now I can actually spend some time with…" Jonny trailed off. He'd forgotten that he was talking to his ex-boyfriend.

"With?" Justin smiled, realizing that he didn't really care who it was that Jonny wanted to spend time with.

"Uh, Luke. My boyfriend. The guy from the…"

"The guy from the phone." Justin nodded. "I'm happy for you, Jonny." 

"Thanks." Jonny seemed to loosen up. "What about you? I heard a rumor that you tamed Brian Kinney." Justin felt his stomach drop.

"Not quite." He shook his head. "We broke up about two months ago."

"Sorry to hear that." 

"So, is Luke around here?" Justin grinned. "He must be pretty hot if you left me for him." The tone in Justin's voice told Jonny not to be offended.

"He's over there. In the DJ booth." Jonny pointed and Justin saw Luke wave. The look on Jonny's face proved that he loved him. 

"Well, if he won't mind my keeping you busy for a couple of songs, do you want to dance? For old time's sake." Justin was actually starting to feel better and have fun. He felt some of the familiar ease that he'd always felt with Jonny and it seemed to make everything better. 

"Sure, why not." Jonny led the way out to the dance floor and the two of them started dancing immediately. 

***

"Wow, it's totally packed in here tonight." Daphne said, surveying the club upon entering. "Must be on account of finals being over."

"How about we go get a drink?" Brian suggested. He wasn't sure why, but he was feeling more than just a little uncomfortable in the club. 

"Anything you say. I'm just the fag hag, I'll follow you wherever you go." Daphne joked, taking Brian's arm so she didn't lose him in the throng of half naked men.

"Least you know your place." Brian said pressing his tongue against the side of his cheek.

"Fuck you, Kinney." Daphne smacked his arm.

"I don't do twat." Brian teased. His easy banter with Daphne was making him significantly more at ease in the crowded club.

"Hey, Bri!" Michael hurried up to his friend like an anxious, slobbering puppy. "You didn't tell me you were going to be here tonight."

"And yet you still managed to find me in here within two minutes of when I walked in." Brian turned to Daphne and rolled his eyes so that Michael couldn't see.

"I was up there with this really hot guy I met when I saw you walk in." Michael said by way of an explanation.

"And you left this really hot guy to come down here and bug me?" 

"Actually, I told him I'd be right back." Michael grinned. "His name is Ben Bruckner. He's a grad student at Carnegie Mellon. He's studying English. He wants to be a professor."

"Well, why don't you go back up there and dazzle your Grad Student while me and Daph go make the rounds?" Brian suggested. He wasn't really in the mood to listen to Michael talk anymore.

"Ok." Michael offered a dopey smile. "I'll see you later though, ok?"

"Ok, Mikey." Brian rolled his eyes again before ordering himself a beer and Daphne a frozen margarita. "Here you go, Miss Daphne."

Daphne accepted her drink and then looked around the club. "Uh oh, incoming sleaze alert." She warned her friend when she saw Jamie approaching. Brian turned and felt his stomach churn when he felt Jamie's eyes on him.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my former stalker." Jamie said, holding an adorable blond twink under his arm. "You missed your chance, babe." 

"Gee, darn. You mean I missed my chance to get treated like shit by a conceited asshole with a puny cock? I'll pass." Brian rolled his eyes, feeling suddenly empowered when it came to his former lover. He turned back to the bar and waited until he was sure that Jamie had moved on. 

"Way to go, Bri!" Daphne exclaimed. She had been waiting for Brian to finally take a stand against Jamie. "I knew you had it in you."

Brian turned and smiled at her, but a blond head caught his eye and his smile quickly faded. There, on the dance floor, was Justin laughing and dancing with Jonny. Turning back to the bar, he tried not to think about what he'd just seen.

***

"Well, I'd better get back over to my friends." Justin said breathlessly after dancing four songs with his ex. "It's Ant's boyfriend's birthday."

"Ant has a boyfriend?" Jonny asked surprised.

"Uh huh. That's him over there." Justin pointed to where Anthony and Nate stood, wrapped in each other. "They're painfully sweet."

"That's weird. I always kind of thought that with me out of the picture, you and Ant would give it a go." Jonny admitted. Justin looked over at Anthony and thought about the feelings that had arisen when he started dating Nathan.

"Nah. Ant and I were never meant to be more than friends." Justin smiled, knowing that it was completely true. "Maybe I'll see you around? I'd love for you to introduce me to Luke."

"For sure." Jonny replied with a smile. "Later, Justin."

"Bye, Jonny." Justin turned and made his way back over to his friends, noticing that Anthony looked a little worried. "What's wrong, Ant?" Without speaking, Ant nodded to where Brian was standing and then looked at his friend with concern.

Justin's eyes were fixated on Brian, who he couldn't help but admit looked even more amazing than ever that night. He was about to turn away when Brian looked in his direction and their eyes met. Without saying a word, Justin made his way over to where Brian stood, as if he were drawn to him. 

"Where's your boyfriend?" Brian asked, trying to seem unaffected by Justin's presence, even though his heart was racing.

"My what?" Justin was confused.

"What's his name? Jonny."

"Jonny's not my boyfriend. Remember? He and I broke up the night I met you." Justin reminded the brunette. He wasn't sure why, but he really needed for Brian to know that he was single. "I ran into him tonight and we danced. His boyfriend is the DJ."

"Well, good for you then." Brian decided that he needed to drop the mask or he was never going to get anywhere with Justin. "How have you been?"

"Alright, I guess. Hasn't been the easiest couple months." Justin replied honestly. He was tempted to pretend that everything was fine, but he just couldn't. "How about you?"

"Surviving." Brian shrugged. 

"Seeing anyone?" Justin wasn't sure that he wanted to know the answer, but asked anyways.

"No." Brian looked into Justin's eyes and hoped that the blond interpreted what the stare meant. 

"Oh." Justin nodded. He felt like Brian was trying to tell him something beyond what he was actually saying out loud, but he couldn't figure out what it was exactly. "Well, I guess I'd better go. We're celebrating Nathan's birthday."

"Tell him I said happy birthday." Brian cleared his throat. "And, uh, it was good seeing you, Justin."

"Bye, Brian." Justin turned and walked back to his friends. He couldn't help but feel like he should have said more, like he should have tried to be more personal. 

"Are you alright? How'd it go?" Anthony asked with concern as Justin rejoined them by the bar. For the first time ever, he was having trouble reading the blond's facial expressions.

"I'm fine." Justin nodded.

"Justin, let's dance." Nathan took Justin's arm. "And you can't say no, it's my birthday."

"Taylor! If I catch you putting your hands on his ass, we are SO not friends anymore." Anthony called jokingly.

"I'm sick of seeing you miserable." Nathan said sincerely. "If Kinney is going to make you happy, why don't you just forget all the shit already and go get him back?"

"It's not that simple. You know what happened." Justin said pleadingly. It was the first time since the breakup that anyone had talked to him like that. Up 'til then, everyone had been handling him like he would shatter if they upset him at all.

"Did you expect it to be perfect?" Nathan asked. "Do you think me and Anthony haven't both screwed things up in the last few months?"

"What?"

"Both of us have slipped, but we talked about it and figured things out." Nathan said. "And we just get stronger every time. It's not always sunshine and chocolate roses, Justin."

"I'll think about it." 

"That's all I ask." Nathan decided to lighten the mood. "Now, let's get a little naughty out here. Ever had sex with a guy who's jealous? It's hot."

"So I'll be sleeping with my discman tonight?" Justin asked with a smile, but still let Nathan move closer. The two of them watched Anthony, who was keeping his eye on them, out of the corner of their eyes.

"I think he's suitably jealous now. Let's go back over there." Nathan smiled. "And really think about what I said. I saw you when you were with Brian… you were really happy. You deserve it." 

"Thanks, Nathan. I'm sorry I hated you at first." Nathan laughed.

"No problem, Justin. I kinda hated you too." 

"Thought I told you not to touch his ass." Anthony said as the two approached. He immediately pulled Nathan close. 

"Awww, baby, you know that blonds aren't my type." Nathan nuzzled at Anthony's neck. "I only like hot brunette's named Anthony."

Justin, who was watching the exchange, suddenly made a decision and walked away without a word. Anthony watched as his friend disappeared into the crowd before turning to his boyfriend with a curious look on his face.

"I think he's going to try and be a hero, instead of staying the damsel in distress." Nathan said proudly before dragging Anthony out to the dance floor.

***

Daphne was on the dance floor pressed in between two of her other gay friends. When she felt a tap on her shoulder, she turned around to find Justin looking at her hopefully. "Hey, Justin. What can I do for you?"

"Where's Brian? I need to talk to him." Justin said almost frantically. Now that he'd decided to try and get Brian back, he felt like he needed to do it immediately before he lost his nerve.

"I'm sorry, Justin. You just missed him. He left about five minutes ago." Daphne looked really sorry that Brian was gone. She could see that Justin had something important to say to her friend.

"Oh. Ok. Thanks anyways." Justin's shoulder's slumped and he walked away.

Daphne watched him go and wondered whether the fates were out to get Brian and Justin or whether it was their own fault that they weren't together. She decided that it was a mixture of both.

***

Brian watched as the rain made the lights of the city brilliant. He was on the roof of his apartment building, his special place to go and think alone. He'd been there a lot since his break up with Justin. Seeing Justin looking so unaffected by him earlier had prompted him to leave Daphne at Babylon to party and dance while he opted to go home and think.

Even after two months, he was still unable to figure out exactly what had caused his relationship with Justin to crumble. He knew that it was a compound of things happening all at once, but he wondered if maybe there was one thing that had tipped the scales. He wondered if Justin's sudden preoccupation had perhaps turned into more, or maybe Justin had decided that he wasn't good enough for him. It was obvious to him that Justin's feelings for him weren't as intense as his, if they were Justin wouldn't have been so casual earlier that night. 

Brian sighed and looked out over the city trying not to think about Justin and what had happened between them. He thought about the fact that he was graduating in a few days and then everything would be different. His life was about to change and he'd have no time to think about the adorable blond who had changed him forever.

***

"Remember this?" Daphne laughed as she help up a funny looking sculpture that sat on a high shelf in their living room. They were packing up their apartment so that everything was ready for when the movers came the next day. 

"Didn't that idiot art student Tommy get that for you?" Brian laughed as well and took it from her hands. "It's really phallic. You should have known he was a fag when he gave this to you. It shouldn't have taken you finding him at Babylon fucking some big ol' bear."

"Fuck you." There was no malice in Daphne's voice, only amusement. "Didn't we play spin the statue with that one night in junior year?" Brian thought for a moment.

"Oh yah! And I had to kiss that little slut Tammy Northam." He made a wretching sound. "And she was so certain that she could get me to fuck her."

"Ahhh… Some straight girls are so deluded." Daphne laughed. "I think I'm gunna chuck this ugly thing. No use in dragging this out to California with me."

"Unless you wanted to use it as a dildo." Brian teased.

"Gross." Daphne made a face. "Throw it out for me, will you?"

"Yes, ma'am." He happily tossed the statue into the garbage bag at his side. He spotted a picture in a frame that had fallen behind the TV and he picked it up. "Daph, how long has this been back there?" He asked holding it up.

"Jesus." She said when she saw it. "Must have been a long time. Look how young we were in that picture." The picture was of the two of them at their high school prom. Daphne was wearing an orangey pink gown and Brian was wearing a very tasteful tux with a beautiful white silk scarf. "We looked really hot that night."

"We sure did. Heads turned when we walked into the room." Brian chuckled. 

"I think they were wondering whether I turned you straight." Daphne slugged him in the arm. "But alas, I'm just a fag hag."

"The best fag hag ever." He corrected her. "Listen, I'm gunna go start on my room. I'll come back out and help out here in a bit, okay?"

"Sure." Daphne said as she started packing up her video collection.

Brian closed his door behind him. He didn't want Daphne to see him getting choked up about moving out of the apartment that the two of them had shared for their four years of university. He was a little sad to be moving on, especially since they were going to be so far away from each other. 

Brian put on a brave face and starting packing all of his things into boxes. About a half hour after starting, Brian was cleaning out his last drawer and he found two pictures of himself and Justin. They were from one of those pictures booths that gives you four pictures. He sat down on his bed and looked at the pictures, remembering the day they were taken…~

"Mmm… That breakfast was so good." Justin said as he and Brian walked out of the diner. He cuddled as close to Brian as he could, unwilling to let the bliss he'd felt with Brian the previous night and that morning end. "I needed that breakfast after the long, hard night we had."

"It's always long and hard when I'm with you." Brian teased, enjoying having the cheerful blond in his arms. 

"I know." Justin grinned. "You proved that last night. And this morning when we woke up. And then in the shower. Wanna prove it again?"

"You're a little minx, aren't you?" Brian laughed. "We both have to go to school, so we can get an education. Well, so I can get an education and so you can finger paint." Justin slugged Brian in the arm, but knew he was teasing.

"Hey, look! A photo booth!" Justin exclaimed. "Brian, do you have three bucks?"

"You want to get your picture taken?" Brian raised an eyebrow.

"No, I want to get our picture taken, asshole." Justin grabbed his hand and led him over to the photo booth. "Pleeeeeease?"

"Fine." Brian relented. He was actually kind of excited to be doing something so coupley with his young boyfriend. 

They deposited their coins and then Justin pushed Brian into the booth, quickly following behind to sit on Brian's lap. Immediately, Brian started kissing Justin and then moving down to caress the blond's neck with his tongue and nibble it with his teeth. The result was 4 pictures of Brian kissing, sucking, and biting a first giggling and then moaning Justin.

"You can't even do a photo booth like a normal person." Justin laughed as they looked at the pictures. 

"You complaining?" Brian asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Not in the slightest." Justin giggled. He took the long piece of photo paper and quickly ripped it in half. 

"What are you doing?"

"Two for me and two for you." Justin said proudly, handing Brian his two. "I'm keeping this one," he pointed to one of the pictures on his piece, "because you look like you're going to devour me." 

"Awww, how romantic." Brian drawled.

"Shut up, you big oaf." Justin slipped his pictures into his back pocket and then wrapped himself around Brian once more.~

Brian wiped a tear from his eye and slipped the picture into a book before putting the book into the box. He reminded himself not to forget the title of the book so that he could look at the picture whenever he wanted.

***

"…So we're going to spend a week at her parents place in the Hamptons once schools over." Lindsay giggled excitedly as she told Anthony and Justin her plans for the summer. "What are you two doing?"

"Working." Justin replied.

"Having mad sex with Nathan every chance I can." Anthony replied in the same flat tone as Justin before giggling a little. "What's with you, bitchy boy?"

"Nothing." Justin grumbled. 

"Nothing, my ass." Anthony said with a little more attitude than usual. "What crawled up your ass… or didn't?"

"Nathan talked me into asking Brian for a second chance." Justin said honestly. "And…"

"Oh my god! He said no! Did he say no? Oh, you poor baby!" Lindsay cut in.

"No." Justin said softly. "He'd already left Babylon. I don't know whether to go over to his place and talk to him or just say fuck it and move on."

"You have to go over there, Jus. You love him." Lindsay said. "He deserves another chance."

"Why does he deserve another chance?" Anthony asked. "He hurt him. A lot."

"He didn't mean to. And I'll bet that Justin hurt him just as much." Lindsay stood firm. "And besides, what can it hurt to just go talk to him?"

"Is this what you want, J?" 

"Yah, I think it is." Justin replied. 

"Then go." Anthony smiled. "Go get your man." 

Justin smiled brilliantly before standing and walking out of the diner. He was a man on a mission now.

***

"So this is it." Daphne said looking around the packed up apartment. The movers were in the process of emptying the place out. "Our last time here."

"I'll miss waking up to your coffee, Daph." Brian said a little sadly. It was really their over coffee conversations that he was going to miss, but he wasn't about to get all mushy on her.

"I'm gunna miss everything about living with you. Except maybe the panting and moaning coming from your room at all hours." She grinned. "And having to pick your underwear up off the bathroom floor because you still haven't learned how to use a hamper."

"Hey!" Brian protested.

"Life won't be the same without you, Bri." Daphne reached up and hugged him. She was on the verge of tears and needed to feel him close to her. 

"Hey, it's not like we're never going to see each other again." Brian pulled back and wiped a stray tear off her cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow at graduation. And it's not like we won't keep in touch after that."

"I know. It's just that I'll be in California and you'll be…"

"Only a phone call away." Brian assured her. "I'll always be around for you to bug or to bug you. It's hard to find a good fag hag, you know! When you find the perfect one, you have to keep her." Daphne laughed.

"Okay, well, I'll see you tomorrow. If you need me before then, call me at my parent's place. You have the number." Daphne smiled, looking around the apartment one last time. 

"I'll be at Deb's tonight if you start to miss me." Brian smiled and pulled her back into a tighter hug. He was sad to leave the apartment that had been more of a home than his parent's place had ever been. 

***

"Brian, I love you so much." Justin said. "I know that breaking up with you was stupid… I was just so hurt. FUCK! Way to go, Taylor, could you sound anymore like a straight chick?"

He took a deep breath and continued walking in the direction of Brian and Daphne's apartment. After spending the entire day after seeing Brian at Babylon thinking about what to do, and then having his friends back him up, he was determined to get Brian back.

"Listen, it sucks without you. Take me back?" Justin groaned. "This isn't going to be as easy as I thought. Everything I can think of to say sounds like some teen drama." 

As he approached Brian's building, he noticed two moving trucks outside. When he felt a familiar feeling of dread in his stomach, he ran inside and took the stairs up to the apartment. Sure enough, the door was open and the movers were moving in and out with furniture.

"Where are the people who lived here?" He asked one of the movers.

"The girl left about twenty minutes ago, the guy about five minutes later." The man replied. 

"I guess you don't know where he went, huh?"

"Sorry, can't help you there." The mover shrugged.

"Where's all this stuff going?" 

The mover looked down at the address and then back up at Justin. "To a storage locker, but I heard him and the girl say something about moving to California." 

"Uhhh, thanks." Justin felt a familiar stirring in his stomach and had to get out of there before he started to cry in front of the burly mover. He made his way outside and stepped into an alley to let his emotions out. 

***

Justin stepped into the apartment, dejected. Anthony was waiting for him on the couch. When he saw the look on his friend's face, he hurried over. "What happened? What did he say?"

"I was too late." Justin sniffled. "He wasn't there. The movers were moving all his things out. And he's moving to California!" He began to cry. Ant pulled him into a tight embrace.

"I guess it just wasn't meant to be." Anthony said gently, holding Justin while he cried. "There's someone out there for you, and when you're ready, you'll meet him and everything will fall into place." 

"Thanks, Ant." Justin sniffed. 

When Nathan arrived twenty minutes later, Justin was still crying in Ant's arms on the couch. "What happened?" He asked with concern, seeing how upset Justin was.

"He went to ask Brian to get back together and he found out that Brian moved out of his apartment and is moving to California." Anthony said, stroking Justin's hair. 

"You should go find him and talk to him anyways." Nathan said as he sat down on Justin's other side and put a hand on his arm. "If you don't talk to him, you'll always wonder. And you may never get the chance to see him again."

"But I don't know where to find him." Justin said sadly.

"Do I have to do everything for you?" Nathan asked exasperated. He pulled Justin up and looked him in the eye. "Brian is graduating tomorrow, correct?"

"Uh huh." Justin grunted the affirmative.

"So go to the ceremony and talk to him there." Nathan looked proud of himself for the idea.

"Do you think it would work?" Justin asked, looking at Anthony.

"Couldn't hurt." His friend shrugged. 

"I'll think about it and decide in the morning." Justin hugged his two friends and then made his way to his room. 

***

"I can't believe that the kid I met when he was a gangly little fourteen year old is graduating University today." Deb said with a huge smile on her face. "I'm so proud of you, baby." She reached out and pinched the brunette's cheek.

"Deb!" Brian squirmed. 

"You look so handsome in your suit." Vic put in, reaching out to smooth Brian's lapels. "Every bit the grown up."

"Thanks, Vic."

"Oh, Sweetie!" Debbie started to cry before she pulled Brian into a bone-crushing hug. "You're going out into the world to make something of yourself."

"What about me, Mom?" Michael whined. He was a little jealous of all the attention that his Mom and Uncle Vic were lavishing on Brian. 

"You know I'm proud of you, baby." Debbie squeaked. "Now, let's get some pictures of you guys. Brian looks so gorgeous in his suit that I just need to capture it on film."

~knock, knock~

"That must be Daph. I told her to come over here before she and her parents have to leave for the ceremony." Brian hurried to the door. Daphne was smiling brightly, dressed in a tasteful summer dress. "Well, aren't you just a little hottie." Brian teased.

"You're not so bad yourself, Stud." Daphne giggled. "I can't stay long, my parents want to stop by my grandparents place on the way to the ceremony."

"Come pose for some pics for Deb and then could you drop me at the Kinney Manse?" Brian rolled his eyes. He wasn't looking forward to seeing his parents, but he knew that graduation was one of those occasions where he couldn't just not invite them.

"Course." Daphne smiled. "Hey, Deb. Vic. Michael." She greeted them.

"Daphne, you look so pretty." Debbie said with a big smile. "I'll bet your parents are so proud of you." 

"They are. I think Dad will be prouder after medical school though." Daphne replied.

"Oh! That's right! You're off to California to become a doctor." Debbie clapped her hands together happily. "Congratulations." 

"Thank you, Deb." Daphne smiled.

"Well, we had better hurry and take the pictures. Me and Daph both have to go over to our parents places." Brian said with a smile, even though he was dreading seeing Jack and Joanie.

***

"Hey, Mom." Brian said as he stepped into his childhood home. His mother was dressed in her Sunday best and was sipping on a martini. "Hey, Pop."

"Hiya, Sonny Boy." Jack grunted from the living room. "Come on in here and talk to your old man for a minute." 

"How ya doin', Pop?" Brian asked as he sat down across from his dad who also had a drink in his hand.

"Well, look at you in your fancy suit." Jack said patronizingly. "You're a fancy boy now, are you? Too good for this family? Too good to come to dinner on Sundays?"

"Pop…"

"Shut up." Jack was getting angry. "You think you're so special because you're graduating college. Pah! You spent a shit load of money and all you learned was things they would have been paying you to learn had you come and work with me."

"I don't want to work in a factory, Dad." Brian said firmly, setting his jaw.

"Too good for honest work?" Jack slammed his glass down on the table and stood. "What are you, some little faggot whose afraid to get his hands dirty?"

"And what if I am some little faggot, Pop?" Brian stood, angry now as well. The color drained from Jack's face and he had to sit back down.

"You're a fairy?" Jack asked, still too shocked to be angry.

"I sure am, Dad. I like to suck cock. What do you think of that?" Brian raised his chin defiantly. 

"Get the hell out of my house and don't you ever come back here. You're a disgrace." Jack turned his head and pretended that Brian no longer existed.

"Why do you have to get him so angry like that?" Joan asked as she shuffled Brian towards the door. "You always provoke him, Brian."

"Mom…" Brian didn't know what to say. 

"Just get out of here, Brian." Joanie said coldly. "I'll be at your little ceremony."

"Bye, Mom." Brian walked sadly out of the house. He didn't know why he was surprised. Sometimes he wished he could just have parents who would accept him not matter what, parents who would be proud that he was graduating instead of being jealous.

***

"We're so proud of you, baby." Deb said pulling Brian's face close and pressing a kiss to his cheek. When she saw that he had a bright red lipstick mark, she licked her thumb and started rubbing it off.

"Deb!" He squirmed away.

"Where are your parents? Why isn't your mother over her leaving lipstick marks on your cheeks?" Deb asked.

"My mom doesn't wear lipstick." Brian paused. "And I don't think they're here." 

"What??!!" Deb exclaimed. "How could they miss their son's college graduation!"

"I came out to them today." Brian said. "They didn't take it very well." 

"Oh, sweety." Deb pulled him into a hug. "No matter what their reaction was, you did the right thing." 

"Doesn't feel like it." 

"You should be proud of who you are. Just because your parents don't approve, don't feel ashamed." Deb was the typical PFLAG mom. "And just remember, you'll always be one of my boys."

"Thanks, Deb." Brian smiled a little. He felt like something was missing, but he didn't know what it was. He figured that it was the fact that his parents weren't there.

"Hey, Brian!" Daphne ran up and hugged her friend. "Are you coming out with us tonight?"

"Us?" 

"Yah, a whole bunch of us are going out for dinner and then to a club to celebrate." Daphne was all smiles.

"Sure." Brian said. After the day he'd had, he didn't really feel like going out. "I have to find Mikey and Vic and then I'll meet up with you, ok?"

"For sure. Meet me at my car as soon as you're done." Daphne bounced away in search of more people to invite to dinner.

"I'm going to go find Mikey. Thanks for coming… and for everything, Deb." Brian hugged her. 

"Like I said, you're one of my boys." Deb kissed him one last time and then encouraged him to go find Michael so that he could go out with his other friends.

Brian was searching through the crowds of people when he heard his name. He turned and saw Justin standing by a tree. The blond was looking at him unsmiling.

"Hey." Brian said walking over to him. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to you. You're a hard guy to find." Justin looked up at him. 

"You were looking?" Brian tried to keep cool.

"I went to your apartment yesterday. The movers said I'd missed you by about fifteen minutes." Justin started picking lint off his pants.

"Yah, we moved out." Brian cleared his throat. "Why were you there?"

"I wanted to talk to you." Justin looked up at him wishing that things weren't so awkward. "And then the movers told me you were moving to California… I just had to talk to you before you left."

"I'm not moving to California." Brian said, confused. "Daph is moving out there for medical School. I got a job here in Pittsburgh."

"You're not leaving?"

"Nope. I'm staying at Deb's for a couple of weeks until I find a new place to live." Brian looked at him closely. "What did you want to say to me when you thought I was leaving?"

"What I wanted to say and what I would have said are two very different things." Justin laughed nervously.

"What did you want to say?" Brian asked intensely.

"I wanted to beg you to stay." Justin only realized what he'd said after it was out of his mouth and he immediately blushed bright red.

"Why?" Brian was trying to understand what Justin was saying to him and he wanted to have everything on the table before he opened up at all.

"Brian…"

"Why?" He repeated.

"Because I love you." He said honestly. He hoped that he could trust Brian not to stomp on his heart. 

"And?"

"What do you mean, and?" Justin exclaimed.

"You said you loved me after you broke up with me. What's different now?" Brian couldn't believe that he had the strength to keep asking questions when all he wanted to do was grab Justin and kiss him.

"I… Bri, this is really hard." When Brian didn't say anything, Justin continued. "I don't want to be without you."

"When did you realize this?"

"The other night, Ant said that you were graduating and I might never see you again. Just the thought of that terrifies me." Justin wanted Brian to say something that would indicate that his feelings were reciprocated. 

"So what exactly do you want?" Brian bit his lip.

"I want to be with you." Justin took a deep breath and decided that he didn't care if he sounded stupid, he just wanted to tell Brian what he was feeling. "Everything has felt so empty without you. I want to be able to hold you and kiss you and hold your hand. I want to cuddle up on the couch and watch movies. I want to ride the ferris wheel. I want to dance with you."

"What about everything that happened?" Brian tried really hard not to be moved by what Justin said. "Where does that come in?"

"Can't we just forget it and start over?" Justin was almost pleading. 

"Just forget it? Even the good things?"

"No, just the bad." Justin reached out and touched Brian's hand. Moments later, their fingers were intertwined. "I just want to be with you."

"And if I fuck up again?"

"It can't all be sunshine and chocolate roses." Justin remembered Nathan's words and was glad he said them when Brian smiled. "Just promise me that you won't give up."

"Promise me the same thing?"

"Anything." Justin moved closer and Brian leaned down to rest his forehead against Justin's. 

"I'm glad you came." Brian said with a small smile.

"I'm glad too." Justin smiled. "Want to come over?"

"Yes." Brian said softly. 

***

"It's been too long." Justin said once he and Brian were alone in his bedroom. He led Brian over to the bed and the two of them sat down. They stared at each other for long moments, drinking each other in. 

"I can't promise you I won't fuck up." Brian said softly, reaching out to touch the blond's cheek. "But I promise to try harder this time."

"I'm not asking for everything." Justin leaned his cheek harder against Brian's hand, finding comfort in the touch. "I just want you."

"You've had me since that first night." Brian broke the eye contact, feeling vulnerable.

Justin smiled softly before leaning closer to Brian for a kiss. As their lips touched, it was like they hadn't been apart. In moments, they were wrapped in each other and they didn't know where one started and the other ended.

THE END

Epilogue

Five Years Later

~Ding Dong~

"Looks like we have our first guest." Justin said with a smile. He and Brian were having a housewarming party at their new loft. "You ready to reveal the new place?"

"Hell yes." Brian smiled. "The place is such a show place." 

"I think my mom is relieved that we finally moved in together." Justin chuckled. "And she's so happy that she found this place for us."

"Your mom is so great." Brian said as he walked towards the door. Justin retreated into the bedroom to finish dressing. "Speak of the devil." He said when he opened the door and found Jennifer Taylor standing there. "We were just talking about you, Jen." He leaned over and kissed her cheeks.

"I hope it was all good things." Jennifer said with a smile. 

"Always." Brian grinned. "Hey, Mol."

"Hey, Bri." The teen said in her practiced bored tone.

"Can I take your coats?" Brian offered. He loved Justin's mother and sister, he had started to think of them as his own family. 

"Thank you, Bri." Jennifer handed him her coat. She loved Justin's boyfriend. She couldn't think for anyone better for her son than Brian Kinney. "This place looks great with all the furniture in. Has anyone else seen it yet?"

"Nope." Justin replied as he reentered the room. "This will be everyone's first time seeing it."

"This place is fucking amazing, Justin." Molly said as she explored the place.

"Molly! Language." Jennifer admonished.

"Sorry, mom!" Molly rolled her eyes.

~Ding Dong~

""Ahh, more guests." Justin smiled and began making his way over to the door. As he walked past Brian he stopped for a quick kiss before continuing to the door. "Daph!" He exclaimed when he found Daphne and her boyfriend Jason on the other side.

"Hey, Justin." Daphne quickly hugged him before hurrying inside and throwing herself into Brian's arms. He picked her up and swung her around.

"Daph, you look fantastic. New York agrees with you." Daphne had moved to New York after finishing med school. She was currently working in a maternity ward in the city. 

"You look great too, babe. And this place is awesome. How did you find this place?" Daphne looked around wide eyed. She hadn't known that anything so amazing existed in Pittsburgh. 

"My mother in law is an amazing realtor." Brian winked at Jennifer.

"Hey, Mrs. Taylor." Daphne smiled and went over to kiss Jen's cheek. "It's so good to see you. Everyone, this is my boyfriend Jay. He's an actor."

~Ding Dong~

"I love this whole host thing." Justin grinned.

"Don't you mean hostess, honey?" Brian said, pressing his tongue against his cheek.

"Bitch." Justin mouthed before opening the door. "ANT!" He exclaimed and launched himself into Anthony's arms. 

"Hey, J." Anthony said hugging him back. He'd moved to Philadelphia not long after graduation and he and Justin didn't get to see each other very often. "Cool place. Your sugar daddy must be doing well."

"I heard that!" Brian called with a chuckle. He made his way to the door and quickly hugged Anthony. Over the years they had become much closer friends. "How's the symphony treating you?"

"Fabulous." Anthony smiled. "Everyone, this is my boyfriend Colin. He's a pianist." A really cute red head stepped into the room and gave a small wave. "I'm not gunna bother with personal introductions right now, he'll just forget." Anthony looked down at Colin and grinned.

~Ding Dong~

Several doorbell rings later, everyone had arrived. Brian and Justin stood together near the kitchen as everyone came to talk to them. Justin was still amazed that he and Brian had made it. True to their promises, they'd both tried over the years. They both screwed up more than once, but they worked through it and it just got better as time went by. 

For five years, they'd kept their own apartments. They'd rarely slept alone of course, but there was something comforting about having a place of their own. When they decided to move in together, they made sure that they got a place big enough for Brian to have a separate office and Justin to have a studio. After moving in two weeks earlier they decided that it was perfect for them.

Jennifer clinked her glass and everyone quieted down. "I'd like to purpose a toast. To my son and my son-in-law," she winked at Brian, "they've been together for five years and if it's possible, they just keep getting happier and happier. So here's to Brian and Justin."

"To Brian and Justin!" Everyone repeated. 

Brian and Justin looked into each other's eyes and then kissed. "I love you," Justin whispered. 

"Ti Amo." Brian whispered in return.


End file.
